My Only Wish
by S k i n n e y L o v e
Summary: Aang wakes up alone to a war torn world, his nation deceased, and the fate of the world resting on his shoulders.  He must step up to his title, and accept who he is, while battling his strong feelings for his waterbending master.  AU, canon pairings.
1. The Mysterious Airbender

**Okay… I don't generally do AU's that are this big of changes, but I decided to take a walk on the wild side and try something new. All the characters have their same spot as in the original Avatar, but I tweaked their personalities and some of their history a bit. Pairings: Kataang, Sukka, and Maiko**

****I'll just inform you on a few quick things before you start reading. Sozin's Comet only comes once every 500 years. Aang will be entering the world as a 16 year old, around a year before Sozin's Comet returns. The war is evolving very SLOWLY. Only now, under the rule of Ozai, everything is picking up. The world is in a state of devastation. That's about all you need to know... Here is the character ages:****

****Katara: 17****

****Sokka: 19****

****Aang: 16 ****

****Toph: 15****

****Zuko: 20****

****Mai: 19****

**Chapter 1. Mystery Boy**

"Boo!"

"Ah!" Shortly after the yell was a series of crashes and clatters. Afterwards a fit of giggling was heard.

"That was not funny!" Sokka said completely irritated.

"Oh, lighten up." Katara kneeled down to help her brother pick up the pieces on a 'invention' he was working on.

"Lighten up? You tell me to lighten up? You-"

"Just be quiet Sokka," Katara cut him off. "It's not like your 'inventions' do anything useful, nevertheless actually work."

"Your just jealous that dad let's me fight in the war and not you!" He added, and was triumphant when he realized he hit a nerve.

"ME jealous of you?" The words turned over in her head a little longer before she burst out laughing. "You can keep thinking that," she muttered. She was done cleaning up the mess on the floor. The metal pieces were neatly pushed together in a pile.

"So why are you here?" He asked her skeptically, she never came down just to see him.

"What do you mean? A sister can't visit her brother?" She asked him innocently, sticking out her bottom lip ever so slightly. He stared at her, unmoving.

She let out a sigh, knowing she lost. "Dad needs your help to think up another invasion plan."

He looked away thinking about it, "we just failed our previous plan and he already is trying to think up another?"

She simply shrugged her shoulders and walked up the latter towards the deck.

"There you are son, I've been waiting for you." Hakoda patted Sokka's shoulder with a fond smile.

"Yeah. So we are making plans for another invasion?" Sokka asked, quirking his eyebrow towards his father.

"Yes, our next best time to invade is several months away. Our men should be healed up by then," Hakoda knew Sokka wasn't very happy with the idea of pushing their warriors. Why? He did not know.

"Maybe we should hide? If you ask me, a water tribe ship in the middle of the ocean is quite noticeable. But if we where in a patch of glaciers, then we will be well hidden until it is time to attack." Sokka said triumphantly at how quick he was able to form a plan.

"Very good idea. I do believe there is a glacier field not to far away from here," Hakoda mused thoughtfully.

"We are loosing out here dad," Sokka said abruptly. Hakoda looked at his son, not sure where this was going.

"We can't stop fighting son, you need to remember that." He hoped this wouldn't turn into another argument with his son, he hated doing that.

"It's just, no matter what we do, we fail. Not one invasion has worked out! What's the reason of fighting? There is hardly a world left to save, a small ship like us doesn't stand a chance against the Fire Nation. It's only a matter of days till the Fire Nation tracks us down and burns us all!" Sokka stood up almost shouting. He gave up hope a long time ago and to him, it was useless to waste good men on something they can't win.

"I understand, but we have to at least try. I'd rather die a failure and know that I did my best, rather than die a failure and not have tried at all." Hakoda said calmly, he knew the war was tough on his kids, but they had to face it. "Right now we need a secret weapon, something to surprise them, something they were least expecting."

Sokka quirked a eyebrow up at his father. "What about Katara? They don't know you have a daughter, and they will be very surprised to see a waterbending master go at them." As much as he hated to bring his sister into the war, he knew he had to, it was their last chance.

"I don't know if I could bring her into this, but I'll think about it." Hakoda gave his son a hug and dismissed him.

"So we are going to hide behind glaciers?" Katara asked.

"We need to hide, they are our best chance," Sokka leaned over the rail watching the ocean pass below them.

"They can't hide us to well, glaciers are mostly transparent, unless covered by snow." She watched him closely. "What's our new plan?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"You are our new plan." Sokka sighed turning to face her. He knew she would probably be thrilled to get to fight. She was a natural warrior at heart.

"How am I your invasion plan?" She asked skeptically.

"They don't know about you, and they will be surprised to see you as a waterbending master. But we aren't too sure. We still don't know how we will invade them, and I am pretty sure we are going to fail. One more warrior won't do us much."

"Your right." She sighed, looking over the edge of the ship. A rather large fish was swimming by, and a smirk grew on her face.

"What are you thinking?" He asked her with concern, hoping she didn't think up so stupid plan.

"Dinner."

"Dinner?"

"Dinner." She repeated firmly. Moving her hands in a circular motion, she created a bubble around the fish and scooped it up out of the water, hovering it above deck. Sokka's jaw dropped, that trick never ceased to amaze him. Instantly he began to drool thinking about it cooking, and betters yet, eating it.

"I love you!" He jumped at her wrapping her up in a giant bear hug causing her to drop the fish.

"Sokka," she growled trying to escape his hold on her.

"Oh, sorry." After that he completely ignored her and set off trying to catch the jumping fish. She rolled her eyes and started to mindlessly play with the water that fell off the fish.

"Katara, Sokka, go check the waters and make sure it's safe." Bato said as he lowered the fishing boat into the water.

"With pleasure," Katara jumped down into it, waiting for Sokka.

"I call dibs on the first Fire Nation guy we find," Sokka said planning his attack.

"If we find any," Katara rolled her eyes and began to move the boat using her waterbending. She knew this was going to be a long boat ride.

So far they spotted nothing. Sokka grew bored so he decided to annoy Katara with songs.

"Secret tunnel, secret tunnel-" he sang out loud. It was a old song telling about this old legend. Sokka heard it once from these traveling nomad people. He only heard it once, so the only part he knew was the chorus.

"Uh, Sokka," Katara was trying to grab his attention. Floating in the water nearby was a huge spherical iceberg, it was glowing a bright white/blue color.

"Secret, secret, secret-" Sokka boasted out loud, trying to ignore her. His eyes where shut tight to add drama to the last verse of the song.

"Sokka!" Katara seethed, he was so annoying.

"SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNEL!" He yelled trying to drown out her voice.

"SOKKA!" Katara yelled and water whipped his forehead.

"OW!" He shouted rubbing his forehead angrily.

"I'm trying to get you to be quiet, this is serious!" She said pointing towards the glowing iceberg.

"What's seri-" his mouth dropped open. "What the hell is that?" He asked her.

"It looks like a iceberg to me, braniac."

"Let's just leave it, it could be some Fire Nation trap."

Katara nodded her head and bent the water underneath them so they could move faster, trying to gain as much distance as possible from it. The sun was getting low in the sky, and once she looked at it again, but this time from another angle, the sun shone through the iceberg, showing off the silhouette of a boy and some weird shaped object.

"Sokka! Someone's in there!" Katara gasped and jumped out of the boat, creating frozen stepping-stones.

"Katara wait! Come back!" He yelled, but he knew it was useless. Once Katara set her mind, there was no setting it back. His only option was to follow her. So he warily set out on the stepping stones, wobbling and almost falling off many times.

When Katara reached the iceberg she placed her hand on it slowly, trying to determine how thick the ice was. It was strange ice; it didn't feel natural to her. It was thick, and strong. When Sokka reached her, she ran up to him and snatched his boomerang before he could say any protest. She then swung at the mammoth iceberg with all her strength, trying to break it. It took several tries, and then it suddenly cracked. It didn't crack in rough lines and random breaks, but in a perfect straight line. When the crack reached the top of the iceberg, a blinding blue light never-ending blue light shot straight into the sky. The iceberg popped open with almost a explosion, not of fire, but of air.

"What have you done!" Sokka shouted angrily at Katara, now every Fire Nation ship will know where they are. Katara ignored him, mesmerized by the light.

Eventually the light died off to reveal a passed out boy lying next to a passed out monster. Silence filled the air as Katara and Sokka stood there not knowing what to do. A deep breath was heard from the boy as he began to breathe in and out of his nose.

"He's alive!" Katara rushed over to him and cradled him in her arms. He was the strangest looking person she had ever set her eyes on. He looked around her age, and he seemed tall and was lightly built. He had a baldhead, and on that baldhead was a large sky blue arrow that ended on his forehead. It also appeared on his hands, and on the top of his bare feet. His garb was strange to. He was wearing orange and yellow, rather than reds, blues, or greens. She hasn't seen anyone wear those colors before. It looked more like a robe than any shirt or pants.

"He's weird." Sokka stated the obvious truth.

"No kidding," Katara muttered. The boy in her arms began to stir, his eyelids fluttered and he let out a groan. Weakly, his eye's partially opened up taking a look at who was holding him.

The memories hit him like a flood. He remembered crashing into the giant wave, getting lost under the icy depths of the ocean. Then an eerie glow surrounded him and everything turned black. Now he had an angel standing over him, worriedly looking into his eyes. Suddenly his eyes snapped fully open to behold the beauty that stood before him.

"Where … Am I?" His voice cracked from lack of use.

"Your in the South Pole," Katara said gently. His eyes widened and he seemed to awaken from his sleepy state.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," He remarked, staring deeply into her eyes making her blush.

"Don't you dare flirt with my sister! Who are you? What are you, some Fire Nation spy?" Sokka asked angrily, pulling him away from Katara.

"Sokka, be nice!" Katara scolded.

"No, I understand. I'd be worried to. I'm Aang, and no I'm not a Fire Nation spy, why would I be?" Aang answered confused.

"Aang," Katara breathed, "I never heard that name before," she whispered to herself.

"I don't like you." Sokka said as he poked his head with a stick. Aang shrugged it off and jumped up suddenly when he heard a grunt behind him.

"APPA!" He yelled excitedly as he ran up the monster's head and gave him a hug. Whatever the creature was, it licked Aang's body and released another grunt.

"What. IS. That?" Sokka seethed, his jaw dropped in shock.

"This is my flying bison, Appa." Aang said with a smile. Katara and Sokka both stared at him like he was some alien. "What, you haven't seen a flying bison before?" They shook their heads robotically. "Well anyway, who are you guys?"

"I'm Katara, and this is my annoying brother Sokka." She replied easily. Sokka scowled at her.

"Nice to meet you, Katara," Aang smiled dreamily, he was obviously day dreaming about something. Sokka scowled at him as he saw that Aang was spaced off smiling slyly at his sister.

"Quit grinning like a fool at my sister," Sokka said with his best menacing voice. Aang looked at him abruptly, slightly confused.

"I was smiling?" He asked wondrously.

"Ugh!" Sokka nearly face palmed himself. He couldn't take any more weirdness today. Katara rolled her eyes at Sokka, he always overreacted to things and he was always annoying when they met someone new. Sure, its good to be cautious, but Aang seemed more then trustworthy.

"Sokka, we've been gone for a while. We should head back to the ship," Katara said hoping to change the mood that the previous conversation between Aang and Sokka started.

"How?" Sokka said as he saw that their boat was taken by the current and crushed by some nearby glaciers.

"Appa can take us to your ship," Aang suggested kindly. Katara smiled fondly towards him and walked over towards the beast.

"Wait! Katara! We can't take Aang to the ship! I won't allow you to get on that monster." Sokka stomped his foot on the ground, trying to make a point that he would stay firm on his opinion.

"Sokka, it is our only way. We are trapped here if we don't take the ride. Besides Aang needs a home, he doesn't have anywhere to go. We can't just send him off to wonder aimlessly on his bison in the middle of the ocean. Not even you are that heartless." Katara crossed her arms; she knew she would win this argument. She was stubborn, and everyone knew you couldn't persuade a stubborn girl.

"I hate women," Sokka grumbled and walked cautiously towards Appa, hoping he wouldn't become the animal's next meal.

"Don't worry. Appa doesn't find sarcastic brothers tasty," Aang commented with a smirk, only to receive a half growl escape Sokka.

"Guys!" Katara threw her arms up in the air frustrated. Aang jumped up onto Appa's head easily, taking the reins into his hands.

"Hold on," He warned. "Yip yip!" Aang shouted, snapping the reins to add affect to his words. Appa groaned and plunged into the water, swimming casually.

"Some flying bison," Sokka said with fake amazement.

"She's young and still in training," Aang excused as he laid flat out on his belly on top of the Bison's head.

"Where are they?" Hakoda muttered as he paced the railing nervously.

"Calm down, I'm sure they are fine. They probably stopped to fish or something." Bato reassured his friend, placing a hand on the back of his shoulder.

"Just what if something happened? They could of drowned, or they could of-"

"Relax! A master waterbender cannot drown." Bato interrupted Hakoda's worried rambling.

"Sir! We have spotted a cream-colored monster swimming towards us. What do you want us to do?" Panted a crewman, he must of ran from the lookout post to him.

"A cream-colored monster!" Hakoda repeated, instantly thoughts of his children being attacked by it flooded his mind. "Attack at once!" He demanded, and hurriedly, the crewman scurried off to repeat the orders that were just given to him.

Taking out his binoculars, he scanned the ocean searching for the monster. It wasn't easy to miss; right there was indeed a giant cream-colored monster swimming towards them. As they sent out the first bomb, he saw a water tentacle reached up and grab it, throwing it off to the side.

"HALT!" Hakoda yelled suddenly, he knew only his daughter could do that because she was the only waterbender that he could think of being out of the ship.

"Sir, why did you command us to cease attack?" One crewman asked curious.

"My children are on that thing!" He said rushing over to the railing to get a closer looked as they neared the boat. Soon the bison was right up next to the ship, and sure enough, there was his to children riding the back of it. They were sitting in some kind of saddle. They weren't alone, on the head of the beast, the one who looked to be commanding it, was a boy. He was in odd clothing. A orange and yellow robe he wore, and he had bright sky blue tattoos on his arms, legs, well on his whole body.

"DAD!" Sokka yelled up relieved to be safe at home. Hakoda made a hand notion, and instantly the crew was off sending ropes over board to wrap around the beast. Once they were secured, they crew members strained to pull the bison out of the water. Katara helped them by raising the water underneath them, and after a lot of work the bison and three children aboard it where safe on the ship.

"Dad!" Katara said happily as she jumped off the bison and into her fathers arms giving him a well needed hug.

"Katara! Sokka! You're alright! I was worried about you two. You were gone for two hours out of the expected time." He looked at the boy and the bison again and gave his daughter a skeptic look. "I think you guys need to explain."

"Well you see, we were just floating around and ready to return to the ship. Everything went well. Until we came upon this huge glowing iceberg-" Katara said, but Sokka interrupted her.

"Dad, it was bigger than our ship." Sokka said with no trace of sarcasm or exaggeration. Hakoda looked at them in disbelief.

"Anyway, we planned to just drift by it, but as the sun lowered in the sky, it shined through it, revealing the silhouette of a meditating boy, and some kind of beast." Katara said, pointing towards Aang and Appa. "I jumped off our boat and ran over to the iceberg and cracked it open with Sokka's club. It was hard, but eventually it broke. The weird thing was that it broke in a perfectly straight line, and when it did a explosion of air knocked me over backwards and this huge beam of light shot up into the sky!" Katara rambled excitedly, clearly the adrenaline from the previous adventure was still coursing through her veins.

"I noticed that light, it was massive, and impressive." Bato commented, but Katara ignored him.

"We found him unconscious next to his bison. He woke up and by the time we were introduced, our boat floated away and was crushed, so he offered us a ride back to our ship." Katara said hugging her father once more. "Dad, can he stay?" She asked hopeful. She looked like some little girl who found a baby animal and was begging her dad if she could keep it.

"I might consider it if I knew who he was," Hakoda said smiling at his daughter. He had never seen her act this way before. She hasn't smiled or laughed much since her mother died, and now she acted like her old giddy self.

"I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I am Aang, and this is my Flying Bison Appa." Aang bowed respectfully, he put his two fists together and the tips of his arrows connected. The surrounding people stared at him like he was some freak.

"Nice to meet you, Aang. I am Hakoda, the chief of the Southern Water tribe, commander of this ship. But tell me, what did you just do?" He asked staring at him with a weird expression.

"Uh, I bowed." Aang said stating the obvious.

"I no that, but why?" Hakoda asked him.

"It's a way of expressing respect, and it's how people greet each other, isn't it? I thought everyone did that." Aang replied confused.

"People haven't done that in five hundred years," Hakoda remarked suspiciously.

"Really? I did not know that." Aang then started to wonder how long he was in that iceberg.

"You seem nice, but where do you come from?" Hakoda asked him, looking him over.

"I'm from the Air Nomads," Aang said proudly. Everyone gasped at him.

"The Air Nomads? They've been extinct for nearly five hundred years!" Katara said astonished.

"W-w-what! I've only been gone for a few days, not five hundred years!" Aang took a step back and looked at them all like they were crazy.

"Hey, don't give us that look. You're the crazy one. How are we supposed to believe that you are a Air Nomad?" Sokka folded his arms across his chest with a smug look on his face.

"Oh, I can prove it," Aang said with a mischievous gleam in his eye. His face was distorted with what looked like the beginning of a sneeze, and sure enough it was. "AH-AH-AHHH-ACHOOOOOO!" His voice echoed as he was launched nearly a hundred feet in the air. Everyone around him was knocked to his or her butts from the violent air explosion.

"Show off," Sokka muttered as he stood up and held a hand out to help Katara.

"You're an airbender!" Katara said dreamily. Her whole life she dreamed to meet one these spectacular people. She heard they were raised as Monks and Nuns, they respected all life and they didn't have parents. Also every one was born with bending abilities, not one person was born a nonbender.

"Sure am!" Aang smiled and admired his arrow tattoo on his hands.

"So the clothing, the tattoos, the bending, is all from the Air Nation." Hakoda mused. The boy was young, and he looked scrawny. Guess that is expected from someone who was in a iceberg for five hundred years. He was tall and very lean, probably normal for Air Nomads to be lightweight with a light build.

"Yes, the tattoos show the status of a master airbender. Usually they receive them at the age of fifteen to sixteen." Aang replied looking back up from his hand to the glorious eyes of Katara.

"So your tattoo's are new?" Bato asked him, they didn't look new.

"No, I've had mine since eleven. I'm the only one who has ever been able to get them at such a young age. I'm a prodigy, and I'm the best airbender there is." He said boastfully, getting carried away.

"Prodigy eh,?" Katara tried her best attempt to ignore his boastfulness and show off attitude. "Say, if you were in the air temples five hundred years ago, that was about the time the Avatar was here. Did you know the guy?" Katara asked him, secretly hoping he would say yes. It actually surprised her when she saw his attitude quickly change and he suddenly grew fidgety and nervous.

"T-t-the Avatar? Well, I, uh, um never knew the guy, but I, uh, knew people, who knew him?" He stuttered at loss for words.

"Dad, I think he is hiding something. We shouldn't let him stay with us." Sokka clearly noticed his change of demeanor.

"We have to let him stay, he is actually an Air Nomad. He is our ally, and the last of his kind. We must treat him with hospitality, unless he starts to take a step out of line," Hakoda raised a questioning eyebrow and Aang gulped.

"I swear you won't regret having me," He said looking over to Katara hesitantly.

"Okay, enough to see here, everyone back to work." Hakoda yelled and walked away. He made sure Appa had something to eat and a place to stay to.

"Aang, I'll take you to your room." Katara's silky voice said quietly. He nodded his head and willingly followed her. They walked towards a latter that disappeared underneath the top of the ship and she stepped onto it and worked her way down. When they reached the end of the latter they were in the ship and walking along hallways of rooms.

"Here, this one is mine," She pointed to a room at the back of the ship. "This one is Sokka's," she motioned toward another room across the hall from hers. "And finally, this is your room." She opened the door to the room that was right next to hers to reveal a small sized room (obviously) with a medium sized bed and a dresser with a mirror hanging over it.

"It looks nice," Aang was used to simple things, back in the Air Temples he was raised to have no wordily possessions.

"The bathroom is right next to Sokka's room. We have a bathroom for every five rooms. Sure sometimes you have to wait a while, but it's better than nothing." She said and walked out to the hallway.

"So I'll see you again at dinner?" Aang asked her before she closed the door. She looked up at him and a small smile appeared on her angelic face.

"Yeah, I guess so." That was all that was said between the two before the door was shut. Aang floated over to his bed and landed softly into the pillows. He wanted to get to know Katara better, she seemed like a really nice girl, and there was no doubt a crush was forming for her. He would be honored to be her friend. He could tell that his times on this ship were going to be fun, and worthwhile.


	2. For The Better

**Sorry for the delay in updating chapters! I guess that is pretty normal isn't it? I bet apologizing for it is even more normal… Anyway! I'll have plenty of more time to post now since I'm going to a stupid math camp thing (ugh! I have to go since I got bad grades in math) I guess it isn't as bad as I thought but after it I have to stay at my mom's work for most of the day. Usually I'm alone in her office so I got plenty of writing time even though math camp ends this Friday. Please enjoy this chapter. Honestly, I've never had a story this popular. Almost on the first day of it being uploaded I got 5 reviews and much more later on. I appreciate that a lot! Also, I just reread my previous chapter and realized it was really jumpy in some areas, which confused me because all my 'spacer' thingys weren't there to tell you when a time skip occurred. I'm going to try a new attempt this time and hopefully they show up to prevent any jumpiness. Gosh, I sure do blab on don't I?**

**Chapter 2.**

"Uncle! Do you know what this means?" Asked a slightly raspy voice. You see, the Water Tribe ship wasn't the only thing that saw the blinding light that came from the opening of the iceberg.

"That the Aurora Borealis started early?" The wise elder voice asked in response to his Nephew.

"Uncle! That light came from a incredibly powerful source!" The former Prince Zuko ranted, annoyed with his Uncle's careless reply.

"Why don't we quit worrying about the nonexistent Avatar for a day and relax while having some calming Jasmine Tea?" Iroh loved his Nephew and would always support him, but Zuko was getting really obsessive compulsive on this matter.

"The Avatar is alive! I can feel it!" Zuko went on ignoring Iroh.

"And I can feel today's lunch working it's way up," Iroh made a gagging sound and rushed off towards the railing to hurl. The Arctic waters were rough causing a bad case of seasickness to break out among the crew.

Rolling his eyes Zuko marched away towards his captain. "You, make a course for the light!"

"Yes sir!"

"NOW!" Zuko yelled impatiently. He didn't have time for the manners of the crew. What mattered now was him getting to the Avatar before anyone else. The fate of the Fire Nation depended upon it.

In the early foggy morning a tired groan was heard. Slowly he looked around the room with blurry vision and faint memories of the previous day. He was confused of where he was, all he remembered then was falling into the icy depths of the ocean blue. His vision started to clear after he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, another groan was heard, and his head was pounding in a terrible headache.

The first thing he noticed was the Water Tribe emblem hanging on the wall. He did remember falling into the Arctic Ocean meaning he was probably in one of the tribes, most like the Southern Tribe since that was near the Southern Air Temple. His arm reached out trying to feel for his staff, he hoped nothing happened to it. His staff was a special gift from Monk Gyatso, one of Aang's most prized possessions, well his only possession besides Appa.

His head snapped up when he heard soft knocking on his door, "Aang?" The voice asked. It was the sound of an Angel, beautiful, soft, and harmonious. That's when yesterday's memories hit him like a flood. That explained for him being in a Water Tribe ship as well. That voice must of came from Katara, no one else had a voice like that.

"Aang, are you awake?" Katara repeated slightly worried now. Her words were muffled since the sound waves had to travel through a door. She was afraid that he might have passed out or something, after all he was in the iceberg for a long time, probably close to five hundred years. Who knew what that could do to a person, or their body?

"Yes, I'm awake," Aang replied, his voice cracked lightly. A breath of relief was heard on the other side of the door.

"Good. Just wanted to let you know that breakfast will be served in a few minutes," She turned and left, her footsteps echoed along the hallway. Aang realized he must have been holding in his breath. He sighed and let it out all, the candle in the room flared upwards as he exhaled. He glared at the candle menacingly. No matter what happened he could never escape the fact that he was the Avatar. Everyone thought he was dead, they were probably better off to keep thinking that. Every time he forgot about it he was able to live that moment like a normal person and just when he gets to enjoy it, something always reminds him of his unwanted destiny. He felt cursed with this horrid thing.

Any other person would be thrilled to know they had all the power in the universe. That they had control over all the elements and they are most powerful person in the world. The Avatar was the most highly ranked person, what he said, goes. No matter who you were, the Avatar was above you.

When Aang was young it was his dream to become a master Airbender, reach spiritual enlightment and fall in love, get married, and have children. After he master Airbending, he learned he was the Avatar. That crushed his hopes and dreams. He could never reach spiritual enlightment, and he probably could never have a wife or children. Then again, past Avatars did have families. That was beside the point. Aang didn't want to be the most powerful person in the world. He didn't want everyone he saw bow down and kiss his feet. He would live a life of luxury with every possession he wanted. That went against all of his beliefs, what he was taught, his life style.

He sighed as he pulled on his robes. It was very simple clothing, basically just a sash over his shoulder, leaving his other one bare. (What he wore before the invasion on the day of black sun) He was naturally heated from the element of fire coursing through his veins. Besides, if that wasn't enough he could always bend the air around him to heat it up. Some people actually mistake Airbenders for Firebenders since they could create steam by heating up humid air.

He opened his door and walked out of his room. He followed his senses towards the smells of breakfast. His stomach growled in anticipation, demanding its food. After walking on what seemed to be a endless hallway, he came to a ladder. He remembered climbing down it to get to his room, so he knew he was in the right place.

Once on deck it wasn't hard to find the kitchen, considering a big sign hovering over a door saying 'KITCHEN' and the people walking in and out of the door with plates of food. Smiling lightly, he picked up an air scooter and raced off to get his portion of food. Everyone he passed stared at him with open mouths. Aang at first got worried about his appearance, thinking it was something that he wore, or if some unwanted substance was on him. Then he realized these people didn't even know Airbenders existed and the crew that were off duty when he came aboard didn't even know of his presence, so he can easily see why he was being looked at this way. Drawing attention to him was the least thing he wanted to do. If someone paid attention to him too much he or she would eventually start seeing the other elements respond to his moods, which would lead to suspicions.

"Aang you made it!" Katara said gleefully towards her newfound friend. Her voice disrupted his worries and all his attention was on the beautiful angel before him.

"Hey yourself," he replied staring into her eyes. He couldn't help but stare at them. They were so beautiful. They grabbed his own eyes and pulled him into a trance making him feel departed from the world.

"Here, I managed to spare some food for you," she handed him a plate full of sizzling seal jerky and other various meats. The appetite left his stomach and he recoiled backwards with a screwed up expression. She looked at him confused.

"Uh, no thanks… I'm a vegetarian," he replied holding his breath from the horrid stench of the meat. In some areas you could still see some fried blood. (I'm a vegetarian to so I can easily relate) "Do you have anything with uh, no meat?" He asked her still eying the plate of meat like it was a cobra ready to attack.

She was a little startled by the new information she just learned, but she quickly regained her composure. "Well, not really. I might be able to fry some eggs?" She asked him hoping he ate eggs.

"Eggs would be nice, sorry to be a bother," he bowed politely and watched as she walked away towards the stove. He tipped his head to the side when he heard Sokka whispering to his father. Being a Airbender also meant that the sound waves that travel through the air come stronger to you, so he had ten times the better hearing than a normal person. All he had to do was bend the air around the waves and pull it closer to him, allowing him to hear the littlest of noises.

"He doesn't eat meat! What kind of person is he?" Sokka murmured horridly towards his father.

"He's a Airbender, isn't it normal for them?" Hakoda asked his son quietly.

"I say we throw him overboard and forget we ever saw him. We could tell Katara he fell overboard when our boat hit a wave or something,"

Hakoda scowled towards him. "You just don't like him because he is crushing on your sister,"

Aang blushed slightly and toned out of their conversation. He didn't generally like listening in on other people's conversations. Least Hakoda did not agree with Sokka!

"Aang! Your eggs are ready," she shouted over the voices of the crewmembers conversing loudly.

"Already?" He asked her and within a heartbeat he crossed the room and was right in front of her. She gasped lightly at his sudden appearance before her. She wondered what it was like to be an airbender, to move at lightning speed. "Sorry to startle you," Aang replied swooping the dish of eggs from her hands.

"Oh, it's fine. It'll just take some getting used to. Egg's cook quickly, especially scrambled." She responded and answered. Aang gratefully bowed to her and carefully took her hand in his free hand, balancing the plate in his other. "Would you join me for breakfast, my lady?"

A blush crept up onto her face and she nodded her head, "I'm honored."

Aang led her over to an open table and together they sat. Katara already ate some time ago, but she would accept any opportunity to learn more about this exotic stranger. His manners were so old fashioned, but they charmed her so.

"Aang, tell me what was it like to live with the Air Nomads?" she placed her head on her hands and peered over at him through her long lashes. Aang took a bite of his eggs before answering.

"Well, It is a long story. Would you prefer a abridged version?" He asked taking another bite.

"Oh no! I want every detail," she responded enthusiastically. Aang smiled at her eagerness.

"We were separated by gender into different temples. The Eastern and Western Air Temples held the nuns, while the Southern and Northern had the monks," Aang began. "We had four main occasions, one was held at each temple. During these occasions men and women would mingle. That was how we got our wedded couples, usually a couple will first bond at the first party, spend a few weeks with each other, and then await to see each other the next festival. Usually by the fourth one they were married if all worked out well. After that you could choose to live together as a Air Nomad, traveling the World, or stay in the temples and only see each other during festivals."

"What age did they allow them to marry?" Katara asked him, absorbing all information carefully. This was probably her only chance to get to know so much about an ancient culture.

"At the age of Seventeen we were aloud to look at women in other ways than friends. That way, after we got our bending tattoos we would have a full year to recuperate and explore the world on our own accord." Aang replied taking another mouthful of eggs.

"That does make sense," she mused and looked up at him once again. "What was your dream?"

Aang noticeably saddened. Once again he was reminded of his tantalizing life long dream. Something could never have. "I wanted to get married to my one and only love, to have many children and to explore every inch of the World," he replied earnestly.

Katara smiled happily, "my dream is very similar," she replied. "What were your parents like?"

Aang looked down at his half empty plate of eggs, thinking carefully of what to say. "Well, I never knew my parents," he replied.

Her eyes widened, "so you're an orphan?" That would explain to her why he ran away.

"No, no. Once a child was born and named a monk or nun – whatever the gender of the child was - would take it into another temple opposite of where the parent lived. That way they could raise the child themselves and the child would not have any earthly attachments. It was our customs and parents did not have a problem with it since it was normal for us. We were raised so strongly in our religions and beliefs that we never doubted any of our customs." He paused and took a breath of air, "I could tell you about Monk Gyatso, he was my caretaker and was a like a father to me."

Katara looked astonished at this new bit of information but didn't push further on that topic since Aang seemed a little troubled by it. So she motioned for him to go on about Monk Gyatso.

"He was the best Airbender in the temples, guess that's why they gave him me, the prodigy. Probably wanted him to raise me to be even more skilled than him. Gyatso was the best fruit pie maker to. Taught me his secrets in baking, course I'm still learning that. Baking is nowhere as easy as Airbending to me. He raised me like his own child, but we always joked about us being brothers, since we both acted like little children." Aang paused and his face-hardened into anger. "He only wanted me to have fun, to grow up like a normal kid. They disagreed with him! They were going to separate us, said I had my important Av-" Suddenly he stopped speaking. He almost said he was the Avatar. He let himself slip; he let anger get the best of him. "Important avantages?" He finished quickly, removing the 'd' out of the word advantages to make it sound like he was going to say that instead of something else, like Avatar.

Katara looked at him with a raised brow. She was going to speak, but he quickly continued trying to stray her off of the topic.

"The Air Temples are beautiful. We used drawings and paintings rather than words to tell stories. You can see our whole history drawed out on all the walls on the temple. I always love to play-" Aang went on, describing the Air temples and everything about them. Katara listened on, but part of her mind kept replaying what happened earlier. She knew he was trying to cover up for something he almost said, and now she wanted to know what. She decided to wait, and see if Aang got to know her better he might trust her with his secret.

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The sun was high in the cloudy sky, playing hide and seek with the clouds. Aang was merrily swooping around the air on his glider doing fancy aerial movements. Katara was playing a game of cards with her brother, and Hakoda and Bato were discussing further details on their invasion plan. Everyone was happy, just like any other typical day; little did they know what was about to happen.

Not to far away a certain Prince was spying on their ship, hiding among the shadows of the glaciers, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He had spotted a flying figure gliding carelessly around the sky and he knew it must be the Avatar for who else could do that?

The odds where on his side and he was just about to attack. Everyone stopped obsessing over being attacked any minute making them less careful of their surroundings, much to Zuko's pleasure.

Zuko made sure to be as quiet as possible. He knew that Airbenders had better hearing abilities and he didn't want to be heard, if so, he would have to give up on his plan and make another new one, fast. But then again, nothing could keep his Uncle quiet while he slept. His loud snoring was the only thing that disrupted the serene quiet around them. Zuko by now was used to his Uncle's sleeping habits, so he just ignored him and hoped the Avatar would think the snoring came from someone on his own ship.

"Aang! Stop gliding around like a careless fool! Someone is bound to see you!" Sokka yelled at the gleeful Airbender, clearly annoyed.

"Oh we're fine!" Aang yelled back.

"Real reassuring," Sokka grumbled. Course their bickering didn't last long before the black snow began to fall upon them. It was like a kiss of death, so gentle and oddly beautiful, but what it brought along with it was deadly and rough.

"I told you Aang was a spy! He must have been signaling the Fire Nation! He's a traitor!" Sokka yelled accusingly, he didn't miss a heartbeat to yell these out. He has been trying to prove to everyone that Aang was untrustworthy threat but no one believed him. Aang landed swiftly, he was worried.

"I-I-I'm not a traitor!" He stuttered.

Katara jumped up to defend her friend, "Aang isn't a traitor, that ship could have been after us for weeks. Aang would never lie to us." Aang began to sweat her words repeated over and over _"Aang would never lie to us," _her voice repeated and repeated. He grew nervous, wishing he could tell them, but he knew he couldn't.

"Uh, Yeah! I would never lie…" His voice faded at the end and he grumbled something incoherent.

"EVERYONE! Ready your defenses! The Fire Nation is here, we need to be ready!" Hakoda commanded grabbing his spear.

Everyone stood there not the least prepared for what was about to come. They were basically sitting ducks waiting for their certain death. Aang gulped audibly, he knew if this little 'visit' was about him he would have no choice but to come surrender.

Slowly the giant black ship emerged from the glaciers, towering over the small Water Tribe ship like a Sky Bison compared to Lemur-Bat. The boat let down its plank and off walked in orderly columns, Fire Nation soldiers, a small army of them. In the back of them, walking the middle of the two sides was an older teenaged boy with an ugly red scar on the left side of his face.

Aang stood behind the warriors; he somehow knew this visit was about him. So he pushed himself through the Water Tribe Warriors, past Katara, Sokka, and Hakoda. He stood in the front of them and walked toward the Fire Nation, stopping a few feet away from them.

"You?" The teenaged boy sneered at the Avatar, and he suppressed a laugh.

"Me." Aang conformed sternly, showing no emotion on his face. Katara looked at the two confused, their minimum word conversation didn't supply her with any answers.

"Your just a boy," Zuko replied. He knew the Avatar was around sixteen, but he wanted to piss him off.

"Really, I am? What does that make you, a baby?" Aang replied with a slight smirk. Aang knew Zuko was older than him, but he knew Zuko's tactic, and so he just flipped it against him. It worked. The Prince seethed, clenching his fists and flames burst out.

"Watch it!" He yelled stepping up to Aang. Aang just stood there, not intimidated which only made Zuko madder. With a feral growl, Zuko shot out a large flame over the heads of the people behind Aang. Katara ducked and let out a cry of fear, quickly Aang was ready to make a compromise, as long as Katara didn't get hurt. Sokka growled and was about to attack, but Aang held up his hand to stop him. Actually listening, Sokka stopped to look at Aang.

"If I go with you, will you promise not to hurt these people?" Aang asked putting his arm out that held his staff. Aang knew Zuko would probably agree. Who would loose the Avatar just over a small agreement like that? Zuko grabbed Aang's staff and nodded his head in agreement. Reeling around on his heal he walked back up to his ship. Two soldiers grabbed Aang and roughly led him up the gangplank.

"Aang! No!" Katara protested trying to break free from her father's grasp to go rescue her brave friend.

"Katara, no. It was his choice." Hakoda said sternly, yet gently.

Aang stole one last look at Katara, and his whole face saddened to see her struggling like that. "It's for the better," he murmured softly, not knowing if he would ever see her again.


	3. Unwanted Destiny

**Did you guys think I wouldn't update quickly after a cliffy? I'm not that mean…. Or am I? Anyway I'm glad you peoples like the story! I got an idea for another story - a shorter couple chapter one – so I'll probably start writing that one after this one… Also I know my Zuko writing is very short. Probably because I don't like him in the first two seasons. I only like Zuko around the middle of season three, I guess when he turns good. So it's harder for me to right something about someone I don't generally like at that time period. If that makes sense? Anyway! More tension between Aang his little –err… big- secret, that kind of stuff is always fun to write :P Enjoy! This chapter is shorter and not my best, well in my opinion. Next chapter should be better!**

**Chapter 3.**

"Bet you've never fought a Airbender before," Aang said with a smirk as the soldiers took him to his prison cell.

"Silence." The man in front of him ordered sternly.

"Why would you think me, the Avatar," he shuddered slightly, "would listen to you, a poor ranked soldier? Isn't the Avatar above all else? Shouldn't you be bowing at my feet?" Aang asked, he was trying to get on their nerves, any excuse for a fight. He disliked fighting, but right now if he could get them to fight him he could escape easily.

A small gulp was heard from behind him; apparently they did have some brains after all and feared him a little. "Err, you're in no position to argue against me." Lame excuse.

"I guess I'll spare you…" Aang sighed as if that was a sad thing to do. His smirk widened, they actually believed him. Still, orders were orders. The one in front of him opened up his cell door and roughly shoved Aang inside, slamming the door behind him.

Aang looked at the room around him. All he saw was blackness with the occasional flicker of flames as he exhaled. His was a little scared, okay well a lot. The extra rough waters and, well the flames flickering with every breath easily proved that. Bet if he had any piece of earth on this ship it would probably be levitating, who knew.

The cell was reasonably sized, probably enough room for a couple people to comfortably lay down, not that the ground was comfortable or anything. Zuko would probably come and drop Aang a visit, most likely to interrogate him to make sure he really was the Avatar and not just a fake. Aang would try his best to play this out, anything to see Katara again. If a relationship wouldn't work for her, than he would be the bestest friend she ever had. Aang shook his head stubbornly; this was not the time to be thinking about relationships, especially with someone he just met.

"Ship is made of all metal," Aang said thoughtfully, there was no way he could try to break out. Sure there was fire he could always use but that most more uncontrollable, he didn't like messing with that element unless he had someone to guide him through it. Water was something he usually played with since it was much like his native element. But it was best to use that up on deck, he wouldn't want to sink the ship. A escape plan was very useless now.

"Time to be extemporaneous," he muttered. He didn't generally like to do things unplanned, random, a living on the spar of the moment. Sure it was fun, but not for situations like this, but then it was his last chance. If he could only get on deck and get his staff back, then he could leave. Zuko didn't seem that good in firebending, like he struggled with it. The soldiers were defiantly not a threat. That grandpa or uncle guy was a threat. He was most definitely skilled in the element, amazingly skilled. Now Aang just need to pass the time until someone came to visit him. Passing the time would not be a problem.

He sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, facing away from the door. He put his fists together so the tip of his arrows touched. The Air Nomads did that to show their Chi flowing freely throughout their body. Taking deep, calming breaths, he closed his eyes and cleared his mind.

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Everyone watched in silence as Zuko's ship drifted off away from them. Katara quit struggling and watched knowing she could do nothing. Sokka was a little saddened, but mostly he felt a little relieved. He didn't have to worry about his sister's safety anymore. But now he has to deal with her being depressed, he wasn't sure which one he preferred.

"Dad we can't just do nothing about this!" Katara turned to her father, teary eyed.

"Honey, please, listen to me. I know this is hard for you, but the boy wasn't even telling us the truth half the time! Yes he was kind, but was that really him, or the manners that were forced upon him at a little age? Didn't you see all of his made up excuses for some questions you asked?" Hakoda was concerned for his daughter. He hated to see her like this and if she kept going on about this he would probably have to send a rescue team after that boy.

"No, you don't get it." She stormed off, disappearing under deck.

"What's with her? Since when did she care about this much about someone she barely knew?" Hakoda said to no one in particular. Times like these he wished he still had Kya to guide him with the ways of women. They were such a confusing jigsaw puzzle that always kept changing shapes.

"Dad, I think she was starting to grow a little crush on him," Sokka said bitterly, yet kindly considering this was his sister they were talking about. The idea of Katara getting crushes, or getting crushed on was bewildering to him.

"A _WHAT?" _Hakoda shrieked, apparently he felt the same way as Sokka. "I think that boy leaving was a good thing then."

"I could never agree more," Sokka nodded his head. Slowly he sighed and was about to say something but a loud distressed growl was heard. Hakoda shared a look with his son, they instantly knew it was Appa. They ran towards where the bison was to see Katara trying to comfort it.

"Katara! Back away from the bison, it'll hurt you!" Hakoda yelled worriedly.

"No! Appa'll never hurt me, he's scared and needs me, he needs me dad, he needs me." Katara repeated reassuringly as she hugged the bison's large leg not letting go. Appa looked at her kindly, but went right back into his worriment over Aang. Appa was ready to take off at the slightest call for him, he was just waiting for the voice.

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"Wakey, wakey," Zuko mockingly said as he entered Aang's cell.

Glaring at the wall in front of him and calmly replied. "I was not asleep. What do you want?"

"Just a few questions, few tests." Zuko replied changing his voice to make it sound calmer as well.

"Fine."

"Good choice," Zuko motioned for the guards at the door to take Aang. Obeying him, they went to grab Aang, but before they could touch him, he was already standing up and at the doorway, waiting for them to catch up. The men stood there for a moment awestruck before hurriedly going after him. Aang rolled his eyes lazily.

When they reached the top of the deck Aang tensed up. This was his chance to attack. Now he just had to wait until the right moment.

Boring questions were asked for about ten minutes. Aang yawned and created a tiny tornado within his fingers. He smiled as it spun gently tickling his hand. He was clearly distracted paying no attention to the questions being asked of him.

"Quit that!" Zuko seethed loosing his temper –what else is new? –

"Wha-? Oh." Aang sighed and quit airbending.

"Now tell me, where did you come from, and how you got there?" Zuko said meaning where Aang was found, course Aang knew that but he decided to play around with that.

"Well…" Aang started and smirked, he began to speak with a happy, giddy, little boy voice. "I came from my mommies' belly. When a mommy and daddy love each other very much they-"

"ENOUGH!" Zuko yelled pulling out hair that wasn't on his head. "I meant where were you found and how you got there!"

"Oh I know," Aang replied carelessly.

"UGH! No wonder why we wiped your kind out, you are so infuriating!" Oh did that hit a nerve. Aang's careless mocking attitude disappeared and he suddenly grew very serious.

"What happened to my people?" Aang demanded standing up and stepping closer to Zuko.

With a fake sweet smile Zuko answered him honestly. "They were wiped out long ago, never deserved to be alive. Hardly put up a fight, a nice warm up for the soldiers," Zuko knew what he said was heartless, but nothing mattered when it came to the Avatar.

Little did Zuko know that what he just said was endangering to his life. The sky darkened considerably and angry storm clouds rolled in. The wind picked up, howling around their ears. Lightning crackled nearby, and thunder roared. The ocean was lifted up into large towering waves. But the storm was the least of Zuko's worries. Right before him, the same annoying innocent boy turned into a deadly weapon. His eyes and tattoos glowed an eerie light, light blue. His face was twisted into what looked like pain and anger.

The burning candles around them shot up in white-hot fire turning the whole scene into a ghostly white battlefield. Zuko gulped, he never expected such incredible power to come from one person. With one swipe off his hands water and fire converged spiraling around him, ready to lash out at it's victim. Aang flicked his wrists and it flung out over the whole deck of the ship throwing everyone overboard. _No need to test him on ability to bend the elements. _Zuko thought bitterly.

As soon as it started it stopped. Aang collapsed onto the ship half passed out. He forced himself to get up, everything was foggy of what just happened. The ship looked swamped, and the waves were just stopping while the sky was starting to clear up quickly.

Taking off into a weak run, he headed straight for the area he saw the soldiers go with his staff. Hurriedly he checked all the doors, and eventually he found his staff. Grabbing it, he flicked it open wasting no time. He took a huge breath of air and let out a loud high-pitched whistle. Sure it was nothing compared to a bison whistle, but it was good enough.

He dove into the air and glided through the hallways, once he reached the deck again, he launched himself straight up in the air, getting as much height between him and the ship. Adding another burst of speed for good measurement, he let out a sigh, awaiting the arrival of Appa.

His head was spinning from the events that just happened. He was terribly weak from the Avatar State that was what is was wasn't it? He hoped it was cause he had no control of what he just did. It was like he just did it, not thinking, not caring if he hurt anyone. It made him feel so drained, defenseless for once.

"Rawrmph," a deep voice groaned, a voice that only belonged to Appa.

"Appa! Hey buddy!" Aang suddenly felt reenergized as he sped toward the Sky Bison, giving her a big hug. Appa groaned again, this time in delight. Aang crawled across Appa's head and landed into the saddle, only to find himself not alone.

"Aang? Aang!" Katara shouted happily as she gave him a hug. Aang was surprised and fell over backwards by her unsuspected weight.

"Katara?" Aang hugged back, not missing a moment of closeness with her.

"I was worried about you! I thought the next time I saw you, you'd be a pile of ashes." She said a worried tone still stained her voice. That was when the two noticed how close they were to each other. A blush crept up onto both of their faces as they quickly broke apart and backed up a bit.

"Glad to know I was missed," he replied looking away to hide his blush, much the same that Katara was doing. "How'd you get here?"

"Well Appa got really worried when you got taken away so I tried to comfort- well long story short, I ended up in the saddle trying to see if there was anything Appa needed and well, next thing I knew we were flying high in the air." Katara was a little breathless at the end of her long sentence.

"Oh, I called her," Aang remembered giving off a whistle for Appa.

"That makes sense."

"Yeh," Aang dazed off, not paying much attention.

"What happened to you? Are you okay? Did you see that storm? I've never seen weather like that before!" She spoke quickly, asking him a million questions.

"I'll tell my story when we get back. Yeah, that storm was something, huh? Wonder what caused it…" Aang began to whistle nonchalantly, course he knew what made the storm. He had a feeling this whole lying about who he was, was going to come back and bite him in the butt. He just felt like now wasn't the best time to tell her, or anyone else.

Katara gave him an odd look, clearly suspicious of him now. "We need to head back to the ship," she noticed that they were going the opposite direction of where they needed to be going.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was going to the Air Temple, guess I should of asked you first?" He yanked on the reins, twisting Appa around to head back towards the ship.

"The Air Temple?" Katara asked in awe. Never in her life had she thought of ever being able to visit such an exquisite place.

"Yeah, the Southern Air Temple, it's where I grew up. It shouldn't be to far from here," Aang looked at her questionably wondering if she wanted to go.

"Oh, that sounds amazing," she whispered. "But we need to get back to the ship first to let everyone know we are okay. Sokka will come to, since he doesn't trust you." Katara sighed; her brother was annoying when it came to his overprotectiveness. She knew he did it because he loved her, but it didn't change much.

"Your right," Aang got off of Appa's head and into the saddle to lie down and rest. He stretched out and yawned, wishing to fall asleep.

"I bet you're exhausted. I still can't believe you escaped a Fire Nation ship, alive." She was impressed to say the least. Guess Airbenders where more powerful than she thought. Well either that or he got lucky.

"Well I did get some needed meditation time. I haven't done that in a long time. It also gave me a lot of time to think… _things_… over." He rested his head on the back of his hands and gazed ponderously into the starry night sky. The clouds now completely left, revealing millions of sparkling diamonds scattered randomly across the sky, and each one reminded him of the twinkle in Katara's eyes.

"Aang?" Katara asked while staring at him intently, studying his facial expressions and gestures.

"Hmm?"

"Is-" she was rudely interrupted with a shout from her brother.

"DAD! THEY ARE BACK!" He yelled unnecessarily loud, most likely to annoy the two on top of the bison. Aang jumped up quickly and was instantly back on Appa's head, guiding the sky bison towards the ship.

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"So, how did you escape?" Sokka pressed, hungry for any action packed details.

"Well after a few hours of meditation-" Aang began only to be interrupted.

"Meditation?" Sokka gave him a weird look; meditation was rarely used now, especially in life or death situations.

"Air Nomad," Aang pointed towards the arrow on hos forehead as if that answered everything, well it did. "Anyway, it gave me some time to clear my mind and think about how I would do it. When Zuko-" Aang muttered something incoherent under his breath as Sokka interrupted yet again.

"So your on a first name basis with him?" Raising a suspicious eyebrow at the boy, Sokka began to wonder if he really was a spy.

"Why should it matter? Zuko, Prince Zuko, who cares? ANYWAY-" Aang said with a exasperated sigh, "Zuko took me above deck to question me. Well he got off onto some touchy topics with me and I uh, umm, well lost my temper with him. Accidentally created destroyed his ship and flung everyone overboard. The storm just added a dramatic effect I guess…" Aang scratched the back of his neck nervously, preparing for the questions about to be said.

"So you just destroyed a whole Fire Nation ship," Katara snapped her fingers, "just like that?"

"Uh, yeah?" Aang replied trying to down play it.

"Did you even break a sweat?"

"No? Was I supposed to?"

"..." Katara stared at him blankly. Sure he was powerful, but she never knew he contained that much power. "Guess you weren't joking when you said you were a prodigy," she murmured.

"People just underestimate the power of air," Aang said as an excuse. From what he saw, he bended both water and fire together, lashing it out on all the people. He didn't really use air as an attack, just in the storm. But the storm was mostly caused him his emotion, not a purposely done thing. But the whole Avatar State thing was not purposely done either…

"I guess so. Makes me wonder how the Air Nomads even got defeated if they were as powerful as you are." Hakoda mused, deep in thought.

Aang sighed looking carefully at the people around him. Each one was completely unaware of the Avatar's presence, they only saw Aang, and they liked him for being Aang. They weren't there for him because he was the Avatar. They wouldn't exclude him from games saying it would be unfair. They wouldn't exclude him from invasions saying it would make it to easy with him there. They don't call him 'Avatar Aang,' instead they call him Aang, Aang the goofy teenaged boy. Not Aang the Avatar, peace bringer and protector.

Katara looked at Aang worriedly. Ever since he came back from that ship he had been acting different. He seemed like he was burdened with some kind of weight on his shoulders, something he was trying so hard to runaway from but it kept smacking him in the face. He looked confused and scared. Everything he did was serious.

"Aang, are you alright?" Katara asked him gently. Sokka and Hakoda walked off by now and were back to discussing war plans. Aang still stood there, feet planted to the floor, unmoving. He was staring off in space, heavy in thought. Katara's words made him jolt, apparently he forgot where he was.

"Huh? Oh yeah. I just need some sleep." He replied with a small yawn.

"Yeah, you look tired," she replied. "Hey, I was wondering if you could do some bending practice with me tomorrow morning? Figured it'd be cool to learn some stances of other bending, who knows? We might learn something new."

Aang looked slightly worried at first. That might end up with him accidentally waterbending. "Hmm, sounds fun. I'll meet you out on deck then, good night."

"Night," Katara replied, and looked down at the ground. An awkward silence crept up around them. They both stood awkwardly with good distance between each other. Katara moved first, rushing in towards Aang, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a hug.

Aang stood there for a few moments before it registered in this brain that she was hugging him. Leaning into her embrace, he wrapped his arms around her back and closed his eyes, enjoying their closeness.

"Please don't disappear like that again. I was really worried," she whispered. Aang simply nodded his head and gave her a slight squeeze before he let her go and walked away, towards the ladder.

Katara stared after him, watching him leave. She was a little embarrassed by her boldness of hugging him like that. She wasn't sure what was going on with her, but she found herself to like the way he smelled. When she hugged him earlier she actually took pleasure in his smell, and she found herself craving it, a reason for her to give him another hug. She was confused and thought maybe something was wrong with her. What she didn't know was what she was feeling was the beginning of a crush.


	4. The Avatar

**Here comes another chapter! This one should be better since I have it all planned out, unlike the first chapter where I only had the beginning planned out and had to make up the rest. I'm really enjoying writing this story, and I'm even more enjoyed to know that you guys like it to! Thanks for all the criticism; it helps me improve, so keep it coming! This is a longer chapter, hope you enjoy **

**Chapter 4.**

Aang had hoped to have a peaceful sleep, but it seemed as if everything was turned against him that day. He had hoped never to be reminded of the Avatar, but to his luck he had to talk about being it the whole day, and ended up with some Avatar State action. He almost should of known that that night wouldn't turn out as much as he hoped it would.

It all started out with him getting hit by an unreasonable sleep spell. When he walked into his room everything seemed to slur together, growing all fuzzy and distant. His eyes felt like they had weights attached to them, making it nearly impossible to undress.

When he finally did make it to his bed it was almost instant sleep. No thoughts ran through his head, no tossing and turning, just sleep. Normally Aang would of thought something was wrong, but something inside of him convinced him that he was fine. He wasn't sure what convinced him, it was like an echoing voice speaking to him.

Moments after he fell asleep he felt himself drifting into a dream. Not a normal dream, one where it comes to you slowly as you enter deep sleep. This one seemed as if it was calling to _him_, making him go it.

In this dream everything was different. Dreams where supposed to be collections of memories and thoughts being pulled together, right? Not once in his life had he thought about what he was seeing now.

He was in a swamp. But the ground wasn't sticky and mushy it was hard and clean. The water was clear, clearer than any swamp water you would see. Everything seemed alive, and he felt as if he was being watched. The trees seemed to go up and up, never ending. The tops of the trees were to remain unseen since an unearthly mist covered them.

One of the scarier things about this dream - he was beginning to doubt it was a dream - was that he could not bend. He could feel the air moving swiftly around him, but it was stubborn and would not move to his command. The same went for the water, the earth, and fire. He felt defenseless, a first for him.

"Where am I?" He asked to no one in particular. That was when he realized that he was awake. He had regular thoughts and memories in his mind and he was controlling every movement he made. Nothing random was jumping out at him, yet. It was like he was transported to another world. When he looked at his hands he saw a light blue hue to them, they were transparent, almost. Was this his spirit? If it was, how was he here? Most importantly where is he?

"Aang," a deep voice echoed around him making him jump. The voice seemed strangely familiar, somewhere deep within him was repeating, _Roku, Roku, Roku. _Looking all around him Aang could not see where the voice was coming from.

"Down here, Aang." The voice spoke again, and Aang looked down.

He saw a figure of an older man in the water, almost as if it was his reflection. The man was tall and wore Fire Nation garb. He smiled kindly as Aang looked at him, studying him.

"Who are you?" Aang's voice shook a little; he was nervous and slightly scared.

"I am Avatar Roku, you're past life. I am the Avatar before you, do not be afraid young one." Roku smiled again, remembering his first journey into the Spirit World.

"Where am I?" Aang asked Ro- himself.

"You are in the Spirit World, I am have called you here. It seems you are having trouble with your destiny." Roku frowned, knowing that Aang rejecting the Avatar would not be good for later on in the future.

"The Spirit World?" Aang went deep into thought, before he remembered the Avatar was the bridge between the real world and the Spirit world.

"Young one, why do you run from your destiny?"

"Because I never wanted to be the Avatar," Aang replied and looking away from the Avatar before him.

"This is something you cannot run from. The world needs you; the Fire Nation is leading everyone into self-destruction. You have to stop them, Aang, you need to master the elements, become their Avatar." Roku looked sternly at Aang, his gaze never faltered.

"Why me? Why did they choose me to be the Avatar?" Aang cried out. These very questions have been bugging him every since he learned of his fate.

"Because we knew you are strong enough to do this. You are a gifted child, a prodigy, and the best airbender. You are strong willed and determined. You don't give up. You are compassionate and caring, you put others first. You have the personality of the perfect Avatar. Not many Avatars are as lucky as you are Aang." Roku remembered when he was told that he was the Avatar. It was very shocking and sudden for him. At first he felt excited, but as he realized his responsibilities he started to get depressed, overwhelmed. The Avatar is a tough job, not to be taken lightly.

"I sure don't feel very lucky…" Aang grumbled. Here he was, a simple Monk. He had to master all the elements and defeat the Fire Nation in what? A year?

"Aang, you have disappointed us." Roku sighed; he really hoped he would be able to convince Aang to accept his destiny as the Avatar.

"I know, I know. I'm supposed to be the Avatar. I don't want to!" Aang crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Aang, the world needs you," Roku paused thinking of something that will get through to Aang, "Katara needs you." It worked. Aang looked down, meeting the eyes of Avatar Roku, his face softened.

"She does, doesn't she?" He remembered the distant hope on her face when she talked to him about the Avatar, and how one day he might return to save everyone. He could imagine the look of glee and hope flooding her face when she learned he was the Avatar that he was going to save her.

"Do this for the Air Nomads, for the people you love. What would Monk Gyatso say if he saw you right now, rejecting your fate?" Roku's face softened, he to was a great friend with Gyatso. It was hard for him to know he suffered such a great death.

"Yes, I'm the Avatar. I'm back and the suffering will stop. No one will ever have to end up like the Air Nomads ever again." A look of determination covered his face and he bowed towards Avatar Roku, thanking him.

"Aang, the Fire Nation plan on destroying the Northern Water Tribe, you must go there quickly to prevent that." Roku said sternly, Aang nodded his head.

Roku knew that he had spent most of the night talking to Aang; it was time for him to leave the Spirit World now. "If you ever need guidance from any of you're past lives, just look deep within yourself and we'll be there." Roku's voice faded away as Aang woke up from his dream, if he could call it that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ - - - - - - - -

Katara leaned over the railing of the boat, watching the glistening ocean water pass beneath her. Aang agreed to meet her for bending practice at dawn; he was a few hours late. Normally she would of gone to wake him up, but she knew he had a hard day and needed his rest.

The boy baffled her at times. He was so confusing and hard to figure out. One moment he was joking around with that goofy smile of his, then the next he was pained and mad, obviously from some kind of memories that kept hitting him.

"Morning Katara," A cheerful voice said from behind her. She turned to find Aang walking towards her.

"Hey Aang, you sleep good?" She looked up at the rising sun.

"Oh, uh, yeah, about that, I ne-" his confession was cut short.

"Do you think it is possible for us to combine water and air? We could make like a cool water/air tornado or something!" She clearly didn't hear him, or else she wouldn't of interrupted.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Let's try it." Aang replied his nerve to tell her wore off.

Gracefully Katara bended up a small sphere of water as Aang created a little tornado in the palm of his hands. Carefully the two guided their elements together, combining them. Soon as they made contact Aang could feel the water start to fling out of the tornado, which would disappoint Katara in knowing it would work. So he concentrated on keeping the water within the tornado, twirling with it. It was very hard, but it worked.

"Aang! We're doing it! That's so cool! A smile enveloped Katara's face, completely unaware that Aang was the one doing it, not her.

Aang looked up at her, breaking it concentration on the water and suddenly it flew everywhere and the tornado vanished. "We were doing it," Aang corrected with a weak smile.

"Katara?" Aang asked her, he needed a waterbending teacher, maybe Katara could teach him.

"Yes?"

"Are you a master waterbender? Like you could teach someone?" She raised a curious eyebrow at him.

"Yeah I am, I mastered it a year ago," she said proudly. Aang's face lit up, she could teach him! "Why?" She asked, but Aang ignored her.

"Lets get bending! Bet I could beat you with my hands tied behind my back!" Aang joked, his goofy smile returning to his face.

"Oh, it's so on." Katara put her arms straight up, creating a massive wave. Her body quickly twisted, throwing the wave towards Aang.

Aang deflected the blow with a powerful blast of air, then he started to shoot air balls at her. She easily avoided them with a water shield.

The two fought each other for quite some time. Aang closely watched each movement she made, trying to learn from it. Both were enjoying each other, having a good time. It was fun to spar someone who wasn't trying to kill you.

- - - - - - - - Oo0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o - - - - - - - - -

It was half way through the day and Aang's nerves were getting the best of him. He had attempted to tell Katara many times about him being the Avatar, but each and everyone failed. He wanted to tell Katara first so she could give him support when he told her father and brother. But at the rate things where going it looked like he was never going to tell her. He didn't want her to find out by accident that would be the worst way of letting her know.

By the looks of it his plan wasn't working. Every time he managed to get Katara alone either someone would interrupt, or she would go off on some random topic not allowing him to continue with his many times rehearsed speech.

He was currently sitting at one of the tables in the kitchen, nibbling on a piece of fruit, something that was rare in the South Pole. His thoughts where like a whirlwind, endlessly spinning around his mind making him almost dizzy. If he didn't tell her soon he would go mad.

He sighed, wishing there was an easier way to do this. If only he never hid the fact that he was the Avatar, then he wouldn't be going through this and he could be on his third lesson of waterbending by now.

Ever since his chat with Avatar Roku, he was more aware of the elements around him. He could feel the push and pull of the ocean around him, the stubborn stillness of any earthen objects, and the pulsating heat from sun, and especially from the candle in front of him.

"I wonder…" He mumbled as he set down his apple. Slowly, warily, he moved his hands towards the small flame, feeling its heat work its way through his skin. Ever so slightly he raised his hands upward, asking the flame to rise up with him. It took a few moments, but then slowly the flame obediently rose upward, follow his hands. Every now and then it would fall back into its original small flame, unwilling to move.

After a while of messing with the flame, Aang decided to try something a little more complicated. He held out one hand near the flame, and the other away from it. He felt the heat pulse into his hand, creating a warm sensation. Now Aang tried to reproduce that same feeling into his other hand, the one away from the flame. He closed his eyes, concentrating on creating a flame in his palm, completely ignoring the outside world.

Of course his bad luck just had to play another trick on him right then. While he was completely mesmerized by trying to create a flame, he didn't notice Katara walk into the entrance of the room, staring at him curiously.

She was completely unsure of what he was doing. From her point of view it looked like he held one hand dangerously close to the poorly lit candle and held the other hand away from it. His eyes were shut tightly, as if he was concentrating hard on something. She started to wonder if he was cold, but that thought quickly vanished when she remembered he could control the air temperatures around him due to airbending. Then the least expected happened. A small flame appeared in his hand.

The look of glee on Aang's face was priceless, he felt so proud for accomplishing his little task. Removing his other hand from the flame on the candle, it placed it around his little ball of fire, balancing it in the air between the two hands. He stared at it for a while, with that feeling of self-satisfaction boiling up in his stomach. He decided to get more creative, and moved the fire into various shapes, twirling it around his fingers.

Katara's eyes widened and her mouth was dropped open by this point. Aang was firebending. She didn't know what to make of it. At first she felt fear, hate. All firebenders where the same, they were all evil. But then this was Aang, the giddy airbender. He wasn't evil, he was quite the opposite, and he was more of a peacemaker. If Aang could bend both fire and water then that had to mean one thing. Aang was the Avatar.

"K-Katara?" Aang stuttered as he noticed her presence in the room. Soon as his concentration ended, the flame vanished into a wisp of smoke.

"Aang?" She replied unsure of what to do.

"I, I'm sorry. I tried to tell you sooner, please listen to me," he gave her a pleading look and motioned for her to sit down. She hesitated, but soon she found herself sitting across from him, demanding an explanation.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She said, a little hurt of his secret.

"I never wanted to be the Avatar. It was something that came to me so suddenly. I barely had time to adjust to the name before everyone began to treat me differently. I was excluded from all games because of the unfair advantage I gave the team I was on. I found myself getting no play time and only study time, then they tried to take me away from my only fatherly figure and I couldn't take it, I ran away." Aang confessed, not breaking eye contact from her.

"Do you know how much this world needs you? How much the people need you?" She accused, thinking of what the Fire Nation did to her, her family, and everyone she loved.

"I'm sorry. I only wanted to try to live a normal life, but everywhere I went I was reminded of whom I was. I decided it was time to stop running from my fears and face them. I tried to tell you Katara, I truly did." Aang gave her that pleading look again, a look that melted her heart.

"Aang, I'm disappointed. But I can actually relate to you a little bit. I forgive you." She reached across the table and took his arrow-covered hand, the hand that once held the flame.

"Katara, you do not know how much of a relief you just gave me, thank you." Aang smiled looking at her hand over his.

"By the looks of it you know the elements," she said thinking of him twirling the flame around his hand.

"Well, uh no. I left before I could get any training on being the Avatar. The only thing I know about the other elements is just from me messing around with them. I need to master Water, then Earth, then Fire. I have a limited amount of time; at the end of this year Fire Lord Ozai will use Sozin's Comet to end the world. I must defeat him before the comet comes." Aang looked down, now he felt overwhelmed, buried in an impossible task.

"Well, you need to learn waterbending? Why don't you ask Master Katara, she might be willing to teach you." Katara replied with a sly grin. Aang looked up at her, their eyes meeting once again.

"Well if you see her, tell her I want her to teach me," he replied playing along.

"Aang, I will teach you. Now we need to tell my brother and father about this, I see a long journey ahead of us." Katara stood up, and looked Aang over closely, in new eyes. Now she looked at Avatar Aang, but all she saw was Aang.

Aang exhaled a deep breath and in turn the flame on the candle rose up slightly. Katara's eyes widened, now that would take some getting used to.

"I can't believe I didn't notice sooner." She muttered under her breath. Now she understood how Aang so easily escaped the Fire Nation ship, how the storm was caused, and how the Water and Air twister was made. All because of him, Aang, the Avatar.

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"Sokka? Dad?" Katara knocked on the door gently, watching the two chatting over a game of Pai Sho. They didn't know how to play it so it made watching them play very interesting.

"Yes?" Hakoda looked up to see his beautiful daughter. She reminded him so much of Kya. He didn't know what he would do if he lost her.

"Well… Aang needs to talk to you and brother about something, could we meet out on deck?" She asked him twiddling her thumbs.

"Uh sure?" He was baffled to what Aang would tell them, he sure hoped it was nothing about him and Katara. Sure, Aang was a nice kid, but if he got together with Katara, that would be rushing things too much.

Sokka got up first; he stretched out his muscles and walked over to Katara following her out the door. Hakoda followed them closely from behind.

As they walked over towards the deck, you could see a nervous Avatar pacing along the railing thinking of what to say to make this the least bit of a big deal. In his mind he was rehearsing several speeches, but at the end of each one he would mentally throw it away and try to think of something else. His time was limited, and soon the water tribe siblings and their father were in his presence.

"Katara told me you needed to talk to us," Hakoda remarked, first to speak.

"Yes, yes, I do. You see, I've been hiding something about me, something very important. But please understand my reasons." Aang began, looking over at Katara nervously before continuing on. Hakoda noticeably stiffened, expecting the worst.

"I didn't want to tell you guys because well, I never wanted this. I thought I could run away from it, but instead I kept running into it head on. I only wanted to live a normal life, like an average person. I wanted people to look at me and see Aang, for who I Am. Not what I am." Aang kept avoiding the word Avatar, not wanting to say it, but a scolding look from Katara told me he better say it fast.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm the Avatar." Aang looked down at the floor, feeling the stare of Sokka and Hakoda bearing into him.

Sokka looked skeptic, while Hakoda looked astonished.

"How do we know your not fibbing?" Sokka folded his arms, looking Aang over once again. Surely he could not be the Avatar.

"I can easily prove it," Aang said as he lifted his arms up, in almost a slow circular pattern. Soon a little bubble of water rose up from the ocean. He decided that if he showed them firebending instead, it would just raise unwanted suspicions.

"You can definitely bend water, and air. You're not lying you really are the Avatar. But why hide that? Why tell us now?" Hakoda asked as Aang dropped the bubble of water back into the ocean.

"Like I said before, I wanted to live a normal life. I don't want to be the Avatar. Everyone looks at me and sees the Avatar master of all elements, not Aang the last airbender. It's also annoying to have people bowing at your feet all day willing you to command them to do something and repeatedly saying what an honor it is to be in my presence. I hate that! I'm just a monk that so happened to be randomly chosen as the Avatar, why does that make me special?" Aang protested and leaned over the railing staring gloomily at the water beneath them.

"It makes you special for being chosen, Aang." Katara placed a caring hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks," Aang turned to face them, slightly worried that Hakoda, or Sokka wouldn't trust him after this, or be mad at him. "I hope you are not mad at me?"

"Well, I am a little irritated that you lied to us the whole time, but I can understand. Besides how could I be mad at the Avatar?" Hakoda said with a smile hoping to lighten the boy up, but his last words where the exact reason why Aang hid his identity.

"See? Suddenly I'm not treated normal! Why does me being the Avatar change if you can be mad at me or not?" He sighed crossing his arms to make a point.

"Aang, why are you so touchy about this?" Katara asked him, wondering if there was a backstory to this. Of course there was.

"Well the Monks had foreseen a great war coming so they decided to tell the Avatar early, at the young age of twelve, rather than when they were supposed to at sixteen." Aang began, the memories of sitting before the Monks while they told him of his destiny.

"They were right about the war," Sokka muttered.

"They were going to separate me and Gyatso, sending me to the northern air temple. Monk Gyatso was the only father figure I had, considering I never knew my parents. Everyone grows attached to their caretakers, but Gyatso really did care about me, he loved me and took me in as a son, I think he always wanted one."

"Oh, Aang, I can understand you being like this now, but you need to leave the past in the past, move on. The world needs you, we need you." Katara replaced her hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes, trying to soothe him.

"Thanks, you're right. I do need to move on, and I will." Aang said firmly, determined to get over this.

"Dad! This is perfect! We've been looking for a secret weapon in our next invasion. I think the Avatar would be a pretty good weapon. We would actually have a victory!" The plans began to form in Sokka's mind, they would attack normal, and at the end of the fight when everyone was weak and tired, out would come Aang and blow them away. Literally.

"Whoa there, just because I'm the Avatar, it doesn't mean I can be killing people left and right. I'm supposed to bring peace, not death. If I won the war that way then the world would fear the Avatar, not trust me, especially the Fire Nation." Aang held up his hands, refusing to go with this plan.

"I think Aang is right," Katara said looking at Sokka with a slight scowl.

"Besides, I'm not trained in being the Avatar. I only know airbending, and what I do know of the other elements am just me playing with them. I only created my first fireball yesterday, and I can only levitate a small pebble. Water is easier for me, since it is more like airbending, but that is limited as well. I don't even know how to control the Avatar State, not knowing that could be very dangerous. That last severe hurricane was actually made by me when Zuko triggered my Avatar State, I destroyed their whole ship!" Aang ranted breathlessly, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with everything he needed to learn.

"So you ran away before you could even learn how to be the Avatar?" Sokka face palmed, thinking of how stupid that was.

"Uh, yeah. I need to master the elements before anything. Luckily I mastered airbending. Next I need to learn waterbending," Aang glanced over towards Katara.

"I'll teach you, Aang. We can start in the morning." Katara smiled, already thinking of tomorrow's lesson. She also couldn't hide the feeling of pride to be teaching the Avatar waterbending.

"Great! But, I think we should start traveling to the North Pole," Aang said, hoping she could come along with him.

"Why to the North Pole?" Katara asked him confused.

"The Fire Nation plan on taking out the North Water Tribe, they want the last water tribe to be destroyed so all they have left to do is conquer the Earth Kingdom." Aang replied, shuddering at the so far fate for the world.

"Oh no," Sokka whispered, thinking of their brother tribe falling, their fate just the same as the Air Nomads.

"I need to get over there as soon as possible, to warn the tribe and prepare them for battle. I was wondering if Katara could come, she could teach me waterbending along the way." Aang said, looking at Hakoda and Sokka, hoping they would agree, and most importantly, if Katara would agree.

"I agree with Katara coming along, but I think Sokka should come to. Not that I don't trust you, it has nothing to do with that, but I think Sokka is needed more with you guys, helping to win this war." Hakoda said, placing a hand on Sokka's shoulder, knowing he would enjoy going along on this journey.

"Of course! I'd be glad if he could come along, the more the merrier," Aang smiled before turning to look at Katara for her answer.

"Aang, I would be honored to travel with you," She tried a poor attempt at a bow, but it looked jumbled up and stiff. Aang smiled and did a water tribe bow, motioning for her to try it. After a few tries she got the hang of it.

"That was how the water tribe bowed," Aang replied, his heart lurched when he saw her eyes light up with joy. They looked like sparkling blue starbursts, surely the most amazing pair of eyes he had ever seen. Katara was thinking almost exactly the same thing about his eyes.

"Well we must leave right away! Katara get packing, girls take a long time doing those kinds of things." Sokka was trying to be helpful, to save as much time as possible, but instead he just earned a smack across his shoulder from his irritated sister.

"Alright, lets get backing, fighting later." Aang gave Sokka a small shove towards the ladder, and followed shortly after him.

Katara watched them walk away; she turned to look at her father. Her eyes teared up at the thought of leaving him for possibly a few years. Who knew how long this journey would take? After they reached the North Pole and battled there, they would most likely leave to find a earthbender.

"Don't cry, we will see each other soon. Trust me." Hakoda gently said towards his daughter.

"Dad, I'll miss you." Katara lunged into his arms, giving him a hug.

"You don't have to go," Hakoda reminded her, rubbing small circles on her back.

"I know, but I feel as if I am being called to do this. I will go, but it is just hard to say goodbye." She took a deep breath and squeezed him again before pulling away.

"Go, start packing. You must hurry, you have a long journey ahead of you." Hakoda smiled warmly, and patted her head gently.

She ran off, hoping Sokka wouldn't notice her delay in going to unpack.

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The trio where finally all packed up, ready to go. Katara made sure to bring lots of food along, while Sokka packed up a couple cots for them to sleep on. Aang fed Appa, and readied the saddle on him to prepare for flight.

"Bye dad!" The siblings both said in harmony together. Aang smiled and waved. With a snap of the reins and those two simple words, they were up in the air, flying high up in the sky.

"So, where are we going first?" Sokka was lazily leaning against the side of the saddle.

"We're going to the Southern Air Temple, there is someone I'm ready to meet." Aang replied, staring at the sunset before them.

"Aang, no one could possibly survive living a five hundred years." Katara said truthfully.

"I managed," he replied, giving her a sly smile.

"He has a point there," Sokka said.

"He is supposed to help me figure out this Avatar stuff, I believe I know who he is." Aang replied, thinking of his little journey to the spirit world.

"Oh? Who?" Katara asked him, wondering whom it could be.

"Avatar Roku, he was the Avatar before me. He sent me to the spirit world last night, and he conversed with me, knocking some sense into my brain about being the Avatar. He also told me about the Fire Nation planning on destroying the Northern Water Tribe." Aang replied as if what he was talking about was the most normal thing in the world.

Sokka gave him a blank stare; his brain couldn't comprehend what was just said.

"So you went to the spirit world last night and contacted Avatar Roku?" Katara replied in wonder.

"Well, not purposely. He contacted me. Well I guess I contacted myself." He laughed a bit to himself.

"What do you mean?" Sokka was confused of what that was supposed to mean.

"The after a Avatar dies, the Avatar Spirit gets reincarnated into the next person. So technically Roku and I are the same person, yet we each are completely different from each other, if that makes sense." Aang was thinking hard on this, and the more he thought of it, the more confusing it was.

"So wait, you've lived through like a thousand life times?" Sokka's mouth dropped open, thinking of what that would be like.

"Well, the spirit part of me did." Aang agreed.

"Wait, does that mean you've been a girl before?" Katara asked him raising a curious eyebrow.

"Hmm… Actually yes I have! Avatar Kyoshi was a girl, and so was Avatar Yangchen. I bet there was many female avatars." He replied, guess he would never have that thought of 'I wonder what it was like to be a girl.'

"So you've had children, been married, and are like the oldest person on earth, considering all the lifetimes you've been through. That's really freaky, yet cool." Sokka wondered what that must have been like.

"Yeah, I guess so. Weird huh?" The siblings nodded their heads in response.

"That must be a lot of memories," Katara mused, guess he would never get bored since he had a thousand life times of memories to browse through.

"Well I don't actually remember any of the things I did in past life times. Sure, if I met someone that was very close to the previous Avatar, I might remember a small memory the two shared together, but really that's it. I could always ask the Avatars what their life was like and they can show me though." Aang was thinking that he really needed to do that; it would be very cool to learn more about the Avatars before him.

"Interesting." Sokka muttered.

Slowly the conversation died and the trio fell into a peaceful sleep. Each one of them was dreaming about the adventures to come.


	5. The Southern Air Temple

**Here's another chapter for you. I've been re-watching season one and writing down a lot of what goes on in them. Now I have a lot of what if questions that I can use in this story. Oh, and one more thing, the whole Momo thing was another idea that the writers almost did, but decided not to. I really like to use the information I learned from interviews in stories. Also, I'm sorry for not updating in a little while. I guess it has only been a week, but still. I was at my brother's wedding during the week.**

**Chapter 5.**

Katara really had no idea what to expect when they came to the Southern Air Temple. She defiantly didn't expect to find gliding airbenders and flying bison, which was probably what Aang secretly hoped to find. She also didn't generally expect to find everything covered in soot and ashes, with skeletons all over the place either.

She looked at the monk sitting cross-legged on Appa's head. He was so cheery, full of life. He acted more like a twelve-year-old boy rather than a sixteen-year-old man. She wondered if his age was even considered adult with his culture. In the Water Tribe most people his age were already betrothed and getting married.

She let out a long sigh, when she was little it was her dream to get betrothed, and married to the love of her life. When the war hit her tribe, every one of her dreams where crushed. Now she was a backup plan for an invasion, past the marrying age, most likely never to get married, grow up, and have children.

"There it is!" Aang's ecstatic voice shouted as he jumped up and pointed at the nearing mountains ranges.

"Where?" Sokka was expecting to find, well a temple, not a mountain range.

"It's right behind the Patella Mountain Range! Can't you see the tip of the temple?" He informed.

"Oh! I can see it!" Katara was growing more and more excited by the moment, completely unsure of what they would see.

"Yip, Yip!" Aang called out again, making the Sky Bison go faster. Appa lurched down, almost doing a nosedive. Aang laughed gleefully, enjoying the feeling of wind racing past his face, whistling in his ears, calling out to him in that beautiful melody.

"AHHHHHH!" Screamed the water tribe siblings as they clutched the side of the saddle for dear life.

Within a second a warm air current caught them and launched them upwards up the spiraling cliff. Sokka was nearly thrown out of the saddle, disbelief flooded his face when he saw Aang sitting there laughing joyously, not hanging onto anything.

As sudden as they were shot down and up, was as sudden as they slowed and leveled out. "We're home Buddy, we're home." Aang said with contentment towards Appa as the big Air Temple stood proudly on the highest mountain before them.

Katara gasped loudly, staring in shock at the exotic beauty before her. It was nothing she had ever seen before. She never expected the temple to be carved out of the mountain itself, but to be sitting atop of it. It was huge, with many confusing pieces of architecture that must have took years and years to build.

Appa slowly started to descend, heading towards a large platform that looked to be built exactly for the purpose of landing. The ground looked like it had been unused for many, many years. Weeds grew up all along the side of the road, some tumbled across in the thick breeze. Patches of white snow covered some areas; most of it was dried up by now.

"It's so different." Aang replied after he jumped off of Appa. He looked around the surrounding area, his face held the look of grief.

"Aang, It's been 500 hundred years. This temple has rarely been touched since then." Katara told him gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess I was just expecting the same Temple from my memories." He let out a sigh before he cheered up. "Come, I'll show you guys my room!"

"He really tries to play the brave card, doesn't he?" Sokka asked, watching as Aang ran up the pathway ahead of them.

Katara met his eyes with hers, and simply nodded her head. Soon she was dragging him along, running after the airbender.

They took in their scenery around them as they tried to catch up with Aang. They passed many fruit trees that were overfilling with winter fruit. Sokka nearly ripped Katara's arm off as he tried to reach and pick the passing by fruit, hoping to settle his growling stomach. Each time Katara would give him a yank as if warning him if he kept trying, he would find a water whip to his forehead.

The small amounts of green were new to them. Most of the bushes or weeds where just twigs, but every now an then they would spot some grass trying to come up through the half thawed out ground.

"Aang, wait up!" Sokka yelled, finally tired of chasing after him.

"Oh, sorry." Aang called back, as he stopped, waiting for them to catch up. They were farther behind they he thought. Apparently he was slowly speeding up leaving them far off in the dust to go see his room, the temple, what has changed.

"Is there anything edible here?" Sokka said once they reached him, he was completely breathless.

"I'll take you to the orchards in a bit." Aang replied as he walked ahead of the siblings, he kept telling them to hurry up every now and then.

"Aang, don't you get tired?" Katara protested, they had been walking for only several minutes, but before that they were running full speed trying to catch up to him.

"It's hard to tire out a airbender. We use airbending to enhance our movements, making it easier for us, and making us go faster. We have complete breath control so basically, no I don't get tired, unless I was actually working." Aang replied as they reached the hallways.

He looked down the first one, and shook his head then moved to the next one. After a couple tries, he found the one he was looking for. The hallway seemed endless. They passed room after room, all closely put together.

"Are these all bedrooms?"

"Yep."

"Woah."

"Unlike the other Nations, all Air Nomads were born benders. So each child born had to be taken to a temple, usually the temples where full of many kids." Aang replied.

He kept searching for his own room, and finally he came across it.

"Aang, why are you in such a hurry to make it to your room?" Katara asked him as he opened the door with airbending.

"I need to check on something," he replied while walking into his room.

It had a musty odor to it, must have been from being sealed up for all those years. The room was generally small, very plan. A small bed was in the corner of the room, a round rug was centered in the middle, and a nightstand was next to the bed. A closet was on the other side of the room. On the bed was a rolled up scroll, it was slowly eroding away from its age. It must have been ancient.

Slowly Aang walked over to it, taking step by step cautiously, as if something was bound to jump out at him. The Water Tribe siblings watched him in silence as they stood in the doorway.

Aang picked up the scroll carefully as if it was about to shatter in a million pieces, of course, maybe it was. He rolled it open, recognizing his handwriting instantly. Slowly, he read it.

_Dear Gyatso,_

_I'm sorry. I stole a bison. I'm sick of this Avatar stuff._

_-Aang_

A small tear ran down his cheek. He wouldn't of left if he had known the destruction of the airbenders was near.

"Aang?" Katara asked, breaking the thick silence that enveloped the room. She hesitantly walked over to him, not sure if he needed time alone, or to be comforted.

"It's really all my fault isn't it?" He clenched his fist around the letter, crumbling the ancient paper.

"No, it is not your fault. It was a accident, Aang." Katara was close enough to touch him now. She was reacting more on instinct, hoping she would say the right things and not screw this up. Her hand reached out, and barely touched his shoulder, hoping he wouldn't shrug away from it.

"Your wrong. It is my fault." Despite his mood, he leaned into her touch. He wouldn't let his foul attitude ruin a moment of contact with her skin. "I ran away, I was a coward."

"Aang, we all make mistakes. We forgive, we move on." She remembered when the solider killed her mother. She felt like it was her fault since she was what the solider wanted and if she could of just been brave her mother would still be alive. Gran Gran gave her a talk about forgiving yourself and moving on. Those things happen for a reason.

"That doesn't work with mistakes that wipe out a hole nation! I can't just move on, forgetting about my culture, my life." He stared at the crumbled letter in his hands, glaring at it like it was some kind of poisonous snake.

Katara gave him a look, although he couldn't see it. He was right; it was hard to move on from something like that. This was a different situation than her loosing her mother. This was a whole part of the world, destroyed.

"These things happen for a reason, Aang. Everything, everyone, has a purpose in life. You are an airbender, the Air Nomads aren't completely wiped out, and they still have you. You were put in that iceberg for a reason Aang. If you did stay you would probably have the same fate as the other airbenders did. You would have been destroyed. Then there would really be no more airbenders." She gave him a small weak smile, hoping to get out of this gloomy conversation soon. But his response was something she didn't expect.

"NO!" He shouted, his tattoos and eyes glowed up, just the way he looked when he was in the iceberg. It made sense to her; it was his Avatar State. She wasn't sure what she could have said that might have induced this, but he was clearly upset.

His arm slashed forward creating a razor of wind ahead of him, breaking the headboard on the small bed. The wood splintered and splattered everywhere. She covered her face, not wanted to get a punctured eye.

"Woah! Watch the splinters!" She yelled above the wind, taking a few steps back. Almost as soon as she spoke the glow faded, and the whirlwind that was beginning to form died out.

"I am not the last airbender. There has to be more!" Another tear worked its way down his face; he didn't even try to wipe it away.

"Aang, you can't keep running away from this. You are the last airbender, even if a couple did survive, they would have been hunted down a long time ago." Sokka said, trying to take a turn on this touchy conversation. Aang's tattoos flashed once more, but only for a brief second.

"Sokka!" Katara whispered a hoarse scold towards her brother. He wasn't a compassionate type.

"I know you must be devastated to know that your people are gone. But Aang, we are your family now. You have us, we will stand up with you through it all, we will support you." Katara watched the tears slowly slide down his cheek. Her heart warmed at the sight of a sixteen-year-old boy that cried. One that cried openly, not ashamed, it was just one of those things that made Aang different. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders pulling him into a soft hug.

Aang didn't object, he gladly accepted her warm, comforting embrace. He didn't know if she felt it, but he defiantly felt a spark between them. Her words echoed around his brain, she was right. Things do happen for a reason. He was supposed to be in that iceberg. He was the last airbender, he was the Avatar, and he was Aang, a simple monk.

"Thank you, Katara."

- - - - O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o- - - - - - - -

"So Aang, who are you supposed to meet?" Sokka asked, his legs were aching although they had only been walking for a short period of time. He was in a grumpy mood considering he had to have a breakfast that contained only fruit. Not one sliver of meat. He had been complaining nearly all morning, making Katara become very snappy and moody herself.

"Avatar Roku," Aang replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hasn't he been dead for like, I don't know, a thousand years?" Sokka raised a curious eyebrow towards the tattooed boy. Although Aang was officially a man, Sokka still thought of him as a boy because of his attitude. He was so giddy and always full of energy.

"More around 500 and 600 years." Aang gave him a smirk at his way off date.

"Seems the same to me." Sokka huffed crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Quit it!" Katara scolded them; they were both acting more like children rather than men.

"Sorry," Aang mumbled, knowing that know one disagreed with Katara when she was on her motherly attitude.

They walked on for a few more minutes, when finally large doors loomed ahead of them. Aang released a breath he had been holding in, he was afraid that the doors could have been burned down.

"So… How do you open it?" Sokka asked as he stared the large doors that were clearly locked.

"Let me guess. We are in a air nomad temple, which must mean they open with airbending?" Katara looked over at Aang to see if her guess was right.

"At least one of us has some brains in here," he muttered which made Katara snicker. Sokka rolled his eyes, clearly wishing he could have been elsewhere.

Taking an airbending stance, Aang released a gust of air out of both palms. The air flew directly into the two holes in the door. Soon the air reached one lock, a click was heard and out spun part of the air nomad symbol, with it was a howl from the blowing wind. The same thing happened two more times before the door opened.

They couldn't see the room ahead of them very well considering it was pitch black inside. Aang wasn't quite sure how he would be able to speak to Roku, but he knew he would find a way he had to.

"Eh, hem…" Sokka grunted looking pointedly at Aang. Aang looked dumbstruck to what Sokka was trying to communicate with him, but at last he got it.

"Oh! Er, right." Aang held out one of his palms and closed his eyes, concentrating on the heat in his chi flow, trying to produce a flame. It took several minutes, Sokka nearly lost his patience, but eventually a small flickering flame grew. It hardly illuminated the area around them, but it was a good start.

"Man, if this is all of your bending skills, then we really are doomed." Sokka muttered sarcastically, only to receive a smack on the shoulder from Katara.

"I'm trying my best! I never had any training in this element before, let me see you bend water!" The two bickered for several more minutes, very much growing no Katara's nerves.

"Well I thi-" after his interrupted word, a loud 'umph' was heard.

"Sokka?" Katara couldn't see her brother, or what happened to him.

"I just ran into some kind of rock object." He noted, slowly standing back up, hesitant that he might hit something else.

Aang blew a small breeze over the flame, hoping it would grow brighter. It worked. The flame grew bigger, feeding off the oxygen. They were able to see a good distance around them; getting a good view of what Sokka ran into.

"It's a statue," Katara breathed. Aang stared at the statue; it was of a person in water tribe clothing. He had never seen this person before, he was sure of it, but yet somehow, he knew the person.

"Hey! There is more over here," Sokka said, pointing to the statues surrounding it.

"They are in a spiral," Katara observed, the last on was a fire nation person.

"The Avatar cycle," Aang replied, he saw the pattern of water, earth, fire, and air repeating itself in the statues. As he looked over towards the one Katara was at, the last one, he instantly recognized it.

"Avatar Roku," he whispered, and bowed toward the statue of the former avatar. He looked at the statues before Roku and recognized Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Kuruk, and Avatar Yengchen.

"Aang! These are your past lives," Katara stared at all the statues; they disappeared up the wall in what looked like a never-ending line.

Aang didn't seem to here her; he was caught in the stare of Avatar Roku's eyes. Aang felt himself slowly being lifted out of the physical world, almost like he was in a trance.

"Aang?" Katara noticed that Aang seemed frozen solid to the ground, staring into the statue's eyes. Just as she was about to try to snap him out of it, his tattoos began to glow again, startling her. She was afraid he would go into another destructive frenzy again. But no bending happened, instead, he stayed firmly rooted to the ground, his eyes closed.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked, watching the glowing boy, ready to run for his life at any sign of bending.

"I, I don't know. He isn't reacting to me, it is almost like he isn't even here, like his spirit is gone." Katara observed, hoping this wasn't some trick he was playing on them.

It was defiantly no trick. Aang stopped fighting the tug on his body, soon the world around him meshed into one solid blur. He found his surroundings replaced by a hazy swamp, much like the one in his dream. That's when it hit him. He was in the spirit world.

"Good to see you again Aang," Avatar Roku smiled, startling the boy.

"Avatar Roku!" Aang spun around to meet his previous life staring right at him. This time he wasn't a reflection in the water, he was actually standing there.

"I see you have come for training on being the Avatar," Roku said, stating the obvious.

"I need help, I don't know how to do this." Aang thought back to all of his training, all of it had been for airbending; none of it was for Avatars.

"It comes natural, it is who you are. Right now you need to get to the Northern Water Tribe as soon as possible. You should be able to make it before the fire nation invade it. You must learn as much waterbending as possible if you are to master the elements in time to defeat the Firelord. I have watched Katara through your eyes, she is a excellent bender, perfect to be your master." Roku took a deep breath that was a lot to say with only one breath of air.

"Thank you Roku, for your instructions," Aang bowed, grateful someone would be able to help him out.

"My talk with you must be cut short, young Avatar. Your friends are worried about you. Have fun, and good luck." With that Roku slowly faded from sight as Aang felt himself being pulled back to earth, crossing the bridge back into the real world.

Katara watched Aang like a hawk; she didn't know what was happening to him. He had been out of it for around ten minutes now and she was really worried. Just as she was about to give up, the glow left, and he groaned, stumbling to the side a bit.

"Aang!" Katara lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him, secretly feeling the muscles in his chest. While she was doing that, Aang was secretly feeling her curves. This made Sokka roll his eyes, the two where so obvious about what they were doing, but completely blind about it to each other.

"Miss me?" Aang smirked as Katara blushed once she realized how close their hug was.

"Enough! What happened to you Aang?" Sokka demanded, interrupting their little moment.

"Oh, Avatar Roku called me into the Spirit World." Aang replied, waving a hand as if he was trying to wave the topic off like it was no big deal.

"We thought you were like, well we didn't know what was going on, but something was weird. I guess that makes more sense." Sokka tapped a finger to his chin, pondering the matter.

"What was it about?" Katara was wondering what would be so important that Aang would be called to the Spirit World.

"Just some reminders."

"Reminders?"

"You know, the whole we need to get to the North Pole, all that stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Quit that!" Aang scolded her, and turned around with a huff. Katara giggled at how easy it was to frustrate him.

"And you thought we were acting like kids," Sokka mumbled, and prepared to leave the creepy statue place.

"Alright, we need to get moving. We should stop at Kyoshi Island." Aang started to walk off to the exit, relighting a flame in his hand. It was starting to get easier on producing fire.

"Why Kyoshi?" Katara asked Aang, raising an eyebrow.

"I think someone wants to ride the coy fish," Sokka smirked, thinking of how much of a kid Aang really was.

"NO! Okay, well a little bit. BUT that's not the reason!" Aang lamely defended himself, clearly showing that those where his intentions.

"Oh? So what else?" Katara joined in.

"To bid the people a Avatar Hello?"

"Sounds good enough to me."

"Let's go!" one of the siblings shouted, marching out the door.

Aang let out a sigh that turned into a broad smile. He didn't know how he got so lucky to have such fun traveling partners, and he also had the most beautiful girl as one of his friends. He really wasn't sure where their adventure would end, if it would end. He knew this was just the end of an old life, and the beginning of another. A beginning of a life he would never regret beginning.


	6. Fishy News

**Here's another fun chapter for y'all. Hmm, I've never used that word before, guess it just came in the moment. Anyway! This chapter will have an extra boost of Kataang because I'm in the mood for it. I'm also really glad you all liked the previous chapter. Personally, I didn't like it as well. It's weird how getting reviews really boosts your confidence in your writing, guess it's nice to have some outside feedback :) I guess a lot of things don't I? Ugh, I ramble a lot to. **

**Chapter 6.**

The small group was preparing to leave the Southern Air Temple. They spent the night in the courtyard, gazing up at the glorious star covered sky. They all had to agree that they slept the best that night than any other night, at least so far. Aang awoke the others bright and early the following morning, eager to start the day's adventures.

Katara packed up most of her brother's stuff, knowing he wouldn't get up and most likely sleep right up to the very second of their take off. She used to think all teenaged guys slept in late until she met Aang. Than again, Aang was also a firebender making him rise with the sun. So that was probably a bad comparison.

Sokka never understood how anyone could wake up at such an ungodly hour. He could almost, just barely understand why Aang could do it. But what struck him dead was how Aang was so giddy about it. Katara would wake up early without complaint, but she would tend to be more moody than usual in the following hours. Or maybe that was just her hormones acting up, he never could tell the difference, nor did he really care.

"Are we all ready to leave?" Katara asked, sending a glare over towards her sleeping brother.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Sokka sat up abruptly, knowing that Katara would probably kick him awake if he didn't get up soon. "Stupid schedules, stupid moody sisters," he grumbled under his breath, only to receive a water whip on the back of his head. He got a lot of those.

"Just watch it. One of these days it will be worse than a water whip." Katara flashed him a sickly sweet smile of innocence.

"I know, I know." Sokka grunted, rolling up his sleeping bag, the only object not packed.

They argued a lot, always over the stupidest things. They each loved each very much, as far as siblings go. Just nothing was fun without a good brother and sister rivalry to spice things up, am I right?

"Say, where's Aang?" It didn't take long for someone to notice Aang was missing.

"He was here just a minute ago…" Katara trailed off, thinking of when she saw him last. He couldn't have gone far, considering they were about to leave.

"We shouldn't worry. He's the Avatar, he can take care of himself." Sokka shrugged off the matter, looking all around the bags for his blubbered seal jerky. It took only a matter of minutes before his nose was able to sniff it out.

"He could have been ambushed! Sokka! How could you shrug this off!" Katara was pacing, she was already worked up, a jumble of nerves ready to explode. It was quite usual for her to get worked up easily, must have been a girl thing.

"Quit you're worrying, your boyfriend is back." Sokka said between noisy bits of his jerky.

"He's not my-"

"Whatever!"

"Miss me so soon?" Aang's voice broke the argument that was about to start.

"Aang, where were you?" Katara held a scolding tone to her voice, although she was joyed to see him again.

"Well, I noticed a bush moving and decided to see what it was. Turns out, we got a new addition to our group!" Aang released his goofy grin as a lemur bat crawled up his back and sat on top of Aang's head, his tail curled loosely around his neck for balance. The lemur looked at Katara with a curious tilted head and soft little chirping noise was heard.

"What is that?" Sokka asked, staring at the weird animal. It had big ears, a small head, and round eyes with a mischievous glint to them. His body was rather small, but he was long and lanky. The animal's tail was long and slightly curled at the end, most likely to hang from branches. A animal like this hadn't been seen for many, many years.

"This is a flying lemur bat, another animal of the air nomads. No one really owned one; they kind of just belonged to everyone, visiting who they pleased, when they wanted to. Typically a favorite of the young children, although they don't like children much." Aang lectured, looking up at the lemur bat fondly.

"Guess this lemur made a exception," Sokka snickered, referring to the lemurs not liking children. It took a moment for it to register, and when it did, Aang scowled at him.

"Does he have a name?" Katara asked, stepping cautiously towards the lemur, not wanting to frighten it.

"Hmm…" Aang thought for a moment, he remembered he found it in a peach tree. A name quickly registered. "Momo."

Momo tilted his head to the other side and chittered again, almost as if he was approving of his new name.

"I think Momo will be a wonderful addition to our little family." Katara chose the word family knowing it would make Aang happy.

"Can we leave now?" Sokka asked, ruining the mood.

"Yes, let's leave." Aang airbent himself up on Appa's head, Momo squealed, not expecting the sudden leap. He dove off of Aang's head and glided around the sky bison a few times before he settled on Sokka's shoulder, sending what must have been a glare over at Aang. Aang chuckled; it was nice to see some remnants from the past still alive.

- - - - - - - 0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Bad news, we have no idea where the Avatar is." Iroh bowed his head, thinking of the response about to come form his nephew.

"WHAT!" Zuko raged, a nearby candle flared upward, scorching the curtain above it.

"Calm Zuko. Keeping a level head is what makes a leader," Iroh reminded, shuddering at the burning of the expensive curtains. He just got them replaced a week ago. They really complimented the rugs, err, they did.

"Uncle! The Avatar is clearly a master mind of hiding his trail." Zuko tapped his chin thoughtfully. He felt like a failure. Whenever he finally had the Avatar within his grasp, he somehow managed to break away, restarting the chase all over again.

"Or he may simply be lost, wondering about trying to find his way," Iroh suggested, turning to walk away, knowing his nephew would rather go sulk in his dark room then talk with his uncle, or anyone for that matter.

"I doubt he is lost." Zuko grumbled.

"Order some fish on your next meal, whoever cooks them tend to pass along news that they've heard from the fisher who caught the fish," Iroh called over his shoulder, thinking of the secrets he had learned that way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You have no idea where we are going, do you?" Sokka sighed; they had been flying for hours. No land had been spotted, only the deep ocean blue.

"Well, I do know it is near water." Aang winced, knowing a sarcastic comment was about to be shot his way.

"Really! I guess we must be close!" Sokka said with fake enthusiasm.

"What are you looking for anyway?" Katara asked, knowing Aang has recently visited some pretty weird sights.

"Uh… I don't know…" Aang admitted sheepishly, quickly darting his attention to twiddling his thumbs.

"YOU DON'T KNOW?" Sokka exploded, grabbing his hair in frustration.

"You're the one who dropped the map!" Aang pointed his finger at Sokka, trying to turn the blame off of him.

"He made me drop it!" Sokka pointed at Momo. Momo raised his head and gave out a protesting squawk.

"So you blame the lemur?" Aang was irritated that someone would blame Momo, a helpless flying lemur.

"You blamed me!"

"Cause you are the one to blame! Not Momo!"

"Guys!" Katara shouted, looking over at the horizon she could see faint hints of land.

"What?" They both snapped. Aang's eyes widened as he realized he almost shouted at Katara, unlike Sokka who didn't care.

"I was just going to say, isn't that land over there?" She pointed off into the general direction of where a small dot on the horizon laid.

"I think so…" Aang trailed, hoping it actually was land. They had been flying for nearly a day, Appa was exhausted, he wasn't used to this much of flying.

"While we're there, let's try not to argue to much, alright?" Katara knew everyone's brain was frazzled from being in the air so long, but they should try to get along better when in public.

A amusing smile was smug on Aang's face as he looked at Katara.

"What?"

"Usually it's the Avatar creating peace, not the Avatar arguing over stupid things with a certain water tribe brother." Aang frowned at the end of it, it sounded it better in his mind.

"Oh, yeah." Katara gave him a look saying 'stay way from comedy.'

"We're getting closer! I can already smell the meat cooking." Sokka licked his lips in anticipation at the thought of food, and civilization.

"What if it is a vegetarian town?" Aang defended.

"Then I'll revert to cannibalism."

A long silence followed the statement as Avatar and waterbender stared blankly at Sokka.

"Remind me why we brought him along?"

"Dad made us."

"Would your dad mind if he 'accidentally' got thrown… err… fell over board?"

Katara slapped Aang's shoulder sending him a scolding look.

"You people have no sense of humor." Sokka grumbled.

A cool welcoming breeze picked up, it was nice and refreshing considering it was rather hot today. Aang smiled, enjoying his native element wash over his face, giving him a sense of freedom.

It must have been around the afternoon, the sun was high in the sky, sending down its warm rays. Aang could feel them penetrate his skin, each one giving him more energy and power.

The mist from the crashing ocean waves gently dampened his clothing. He could feel the constant push and pull of the water, the constant balance created by it. He loved the feeling; he was always reminded of it when he would look at Katara. His favorite color was the ocean blue, either because of her lovely eyes, or from the love of water.

The earth was distant from him, it wasn't so free spirited, and it was stubborn and demanded him to go to it. It never freely came to him on will, it was always by force, and it was unwilling and stubborn. Sokka almost reminded him of the earth, whether it was a compliment or an insult he would never be sure. Guess it depends upon how Sokka would decipher that.

"Aang, aren't we going to land?" Katara asked, the island was under them now.

"Wha? Oh! Yeah." Aang slowly guided Appa closer to the ground, preparing for a landing. He often got lost in thought, and when he did, he usually thought of the elements. Must be an Avatar thing.

Appa let out a grunt when they made contact with the ground, she was eager to get some much needed rest. Momo flew around in hyper circles, just excited to… well just excited for nothing.

"We should leave Appa here while we explore the town." Aang suggested, thinking it would help draw less attention to them if they didn't have a giant half grown flying bison with them.

"And Aang, I think you should cover up, we don't want to reveal your identity just yet. They might be already taken over by the Fire Nation, or it might just be a bad town. You can never be to careful, right?" Katara reasoned, thinking of how they needed to play it safe if they wanted to last long out in the real world.

"Katara's right. I'll go in and buy you a hooded cloak." Sokka marched off into the direction of the town, not waiting for a response.

"Soo… Shouldn't you guys be disguised to?" Aang asked, once Sokka was out of sight.

"Well we're a lot less noticeable then you. We can blend in, but you have tattoos all over your body screaming 'Master Airbender' not that easy to blend in."

"You have a point there." Aang could see the logic behind her words.

Sokka wasn't gone to long. He came with three hooded cloaks, he said the other two where for when their trio became more noticed, when they all needed to blend in.

"How do I look?" Aang asked, his hood was slightly bigger, making it droop over his forehead, completely hiding his arrow. All he had to worry about where his hands, but that was easy to cover up.

"Like a normal person," Sokka was satisfied that his plan worked.

"Lets go! We have a town to explore and to see if we can find a place to rest."

Together the group moved out, it didn't take long for them to come across the town. It wasn't big, nor was it small. A nice size populated enough to not draw much attention to them.

"There isn't any Fire Nation in this town," Katara said, looking around at all the happy children playing in the streets.

"Look's like a trustworthy place to me. We should go over there and ask where we are." Aang said, pointing towards a rusted looking building. It was a general shop, but many people were crowded there, making it look like a good spot to ask for a location.

"We should also buy a map." Suggested Sokka while they walked into the store.

The people seemed to not notice them at all. They just kept on with their usual business, buying and selling things. They all knew if Aang weren't wearing a cloak, everyone would stop and stare at his tattoos.

The name of the store was correct, it truly was a general shop. It was selling many fruits, along with plenty of meats. Sokka salivated every time they passed a rack with fresh meat on it, while Aang shuddered away. Besides food, the store had various knick-knacks and a lot of random objects.

"Um, excuse me?" Katara asked sweetly towards one of the store clerks.

"Yes?" The lady replied, turning to face Katara. The lady was slightly taller than her; she had sleek, short, black hair.

"We lost our map and are a little lost. Could you tell us where we are?" Katara gave a slight smile.

"You are on Goshe Island, dear."

"Thank you!" Katara turned an about face to see that Sokka had run off to go buy a map. She rolled her eyes at his impatience, and his love for maps. She felt a hand on her shoulder; she turned to greet the warm gray eyes. Only, as she thought about the hand on her shoulder for a minute, it didn't feel like his warm and gentle touch. It was rough, and big.

"Aang?" She whispered while she turned, but she was wrong. Instead of those familiar gray eyes, it was cold brown ones, if brown eyes could even be cold.

"S'vory sweet cheeks," The guy half slurred, he looked drunk, even though it was only the afternoon. He was big and burly, someone she would of normally tried to walk past without drawing attention to herself if she would have met him on the street.

"Get away from me," she hissed, wishing she had water to bend. The air was dry in the shop, and this out of all days, she decided not to bring her waterbending pouch.

"And let a pretty thing like you go? Not a chance." He was trying to be seductive, but it only grossed her out more. His firm grip on her shoulder slowly trailed down her arm to her wrist, and before she could help it, he had to tight grips on her wrists.

"Come on, give me some love," He leaned toward her for a kiss, but she struggled at tried to kick him in the groin. His tight grip on her didn't give her much room to move.

"Did you just try to kick me? You'll pay for that!" Apparently when he was drunk, he was quick to anger. He let go of one of her wrists and raised his hand, about to slap her. She knew struggling would just make it worse, so she did the only thing she could do, sit there and cower like a helpless idiot.

She shut her eyes awaiting the slap of his hand. She could slightly hear the air whistling as his hand flew downward; ready to make contact with her skin. In the middle of his strike, it was stopped abruptly, making the man stumble and drop her. She looked up to see Aang towering over the man with a menacing look.

"Paws off my girlfriend!" He growled, holding the hand the man was about to slap her with. Her heart skipped a beat when he called her his girlfriend, and she secretly knew why.

"I, she was your girlfriend? Haha.." he chuckled nervously.

"Go." Aang pointed towards the exit, ignoring the man's nervous babbling.

"I'm sorry, really," the guy apologized, although he didn't mean it.

"I said leave!" A rough breeze swept from the room, Katara knew it was from Aang's current mood. The guy listened and ran off, not looking back.

"Aang!" Katara stood up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey, Katara." He smiled returning her hug.

"Thank you," she said thankfully.

"Anytime. I will always be there, always." He promised, his warm gray eyes met her crystal blue ones. He gave her another squeeze and together they went to find Sokka, hand in hand.

The other people didn't pay much attention to the scene that just played in front of them. They were used to that same guy getting drunk and hitting on girls. Really, he was a nice guy; just he turned bad when he was drunk. Usually after he will fall asleep and completely forget everything that happened. He would never remember hitting on Katara, or even getting drunk.

"I just bought a map!" Sokka squealed as if it was his biggest accomplishment. His little happy dance ended abruptly when he noticed Aang's sullen mood.

"What's wrong?" He asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Just some drunk guy was trying to seduce me, but don't worry Aang saved me." She said shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, he didn't hurt her," Aang tightened his hand around hers, _he almost did. _ Aang thought bitterly.

"Oh. I was looking on the map and it turns out we aren't to far away from a island called Kyoshi. I thought it would be cool to visit a island after a previous Avatar, besides, they have giant koi fish that are fun to ride!" Sokka opened up the new map and pointed at a tiny island on the map. From the looks of it, they still had a very long journey until they reached the North Pole.

"I guess it couldn't hurt. I would like to leave this place as soon as possible. We should travel another night on Appa and rest in Kyoshi." Aang replied his goofy grin appeared. "Besides, I would like to check out the giant koi fish."

That was what Katara liked about Aang. He could never stay serious for to long, he knew how to have fun. He always lived to make the most out of life no matter what the situation. Ever since that little incident she was feeling much more safe, protected. She knew Aang would keep his word; he would always be there for her. The though of that sent chills down her spine, he was different then the other guys.

Inside her heart was beating a mile a minute. She may of acted like it was no big deal, but she only did that for Aang and Sokka's benefit. She knew if she made a big deal out of this, so would Aang. Sokka would probably flip out and have a cow.

"You alright?" She jumped slightly, startled. Aang's voice pulled her back into the real world and out of her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She said, looking down, refusing to look into his heart melting gray eyes. She could almost sense Aang frown at her refusal to look at him.

She couldn't let herself get attracted to him. He had other more important things to do, like save the world, right? Besides, why would he like her? Things were just so confusing. She turned and walked away, going towards Sokka who was already marching off to find Appa.

"No, your not," Aang whispered sadly and slowly he started after her. He knew that little incident before could be part of what was troubling her, but there was something else. Something else that was causing more confusion in her, he didn't know what it was. All he could do was continue to show her his affection, hopefully to gain a good friendship with her. He'd much rather be good friends with her, rather then ask her out, have her refuse and never see each other again, or have this huge awkward tension between them.

_- 0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o-

A freshly cooked fish was served on Zuko's plate. Zuko smiled in anticipation, not because of the cooked fish before him, but for the news he might gain.

"Do you have any status on the Avatar?" Zuko asked, hoping to get something that could lead on to where he was.

"Why yes, yes I do!" The guy said excitedly, happy that he could be of more use towards Zuko.

"Well?" Zuko was growing impatient by the minute, although he had only been waiting for the answer a few seconds.

"The Avatar has disappeared and is nowhere to be found!" The guy let out a cheesy smile and skipped merrily off towards the kitchen, glad he gave the prince good information.

Zuko released a growl and face palmed, a red mark was visible on his forhead.


	7. A Bunch Of Girls

**Sorry for the long wait! Want to here my lame excuse? Life happened. My friend was over for a few weeks after I hadn't seen her since last December. What was I supposed to do? "Sorry, but I can you not talk to me today since I have to right another chapter for my story." Yeah, didn't think so. Another thing that screwed up my quick popping out of chapters was a writer's block. I knew I was going to hit one soon since I had never written to much in so little time in my life. ** **So this is me punching the block in it's face and givin' It the finger. Need to stop thinking like a airbender, avoiding the situation, and need to step up my inner earthbenderyness and face this situation head on! :P I just love Toph! She is awesome, is she not? **

**Chapter 7. Simple Monk**

"I think we shouldn't risk our luck at this island."

"We don't have a choice," Aang argued, remembering the last island they encountered.

"Yes, we do." Sokka folded his arms stubbornly.

"No, we don't. Do you want Appa to fall asleep while flying? Trust me, not fun for someone who doesn't bend air." Aang pointed to the sky bison under them, a loud groan was heard, agreeing with Aang.

"Aang has a point," Katara tried to reason with her brother. As much as she preferred to stay flying, she knew Appa needed to rest.

"Fine, side up with your boyfriend." Sokka grumbled, turning around to stare at the ground.

"He's not my-" she cut herself off, knowing it would have no effect on her brother's thick skull.

She could feel the decline in altitude, marveling at how a giant sky bison was able to fly. She would have to ask Aang about that later. At times she grew a little worried, after all, Appa was still in training.

It was a generally peaceful day; the memories of what happened on the previous island were shoved as far back into her mind as possible. She still got a shiver up her spine just remembering the way Aang possessively called her his girlfriend. Her mind was whirling Aang called her his girlfriend. There it was again, that shiver. Why was she reacting that way? Aang was a nice guy, but did she really like him like that? Why did she enjoy him saying she was his girlfriend? What-

Her thoughts ended abruptly when the animal underneath her crashed to the ground in a sleeping heap. The sudden contact to the ground flung her body forward, onto Aang, the source of her problems.

"Just can't help yourself can you?" Aang smirked looking at the girl who was sprawled out across his body. Her cheeks turned into a bright rosy hue at the awkwardness of their position. Her face was against his chest –it was quite muscular, _no! Bad Katara_ she scolded her self. – And her legs were intertwined with her thigh pressed up against his groin.

She shoved herself off of him as quickly as she could. Aang was a little thankful for that, he didn't know how much longer it took until she would have discovered the bulge in his pants.

"Ugh! Couldn't you tell your beast to land a little better next time?" Sokka growled, mostly towards the slumbering animal.

"Just be happy it happened when we landed, rather than before." Aang stood up, sending a quick glance over at Katara. Their awkward position was still fresh in his mind, probably something he would savor for a while.

"At least a heads up would have been nice. It could have prevented us falling all over the place." Katara grumbled, trying to scold her conscience for telling her that she did enjoy their little position.

"But then no fun would come out of that, would it?" Aang winked, and she rolled her eyes stubbornly.

"You sicken me." She muttered and grabbed Sokka's hand, walking off to who knows where.

"Where are you going?" Aang sighed making a mental note not to annoy southern water tribe women.

"We are looking for food." She called over her shoulder, still dragging Sokka.

"But-" he discontinued his sentence, knowing it was no use. He would just have to catch up to them later. Might as well take a bath during his rare alone time. Being clean was a top priority for a Monk; it was bad to be unclean, and to be unshaven. Aang's head hadn't been shaved in a few days and already it was covered in peach fuzz.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sokka, is this a nut, or a rock?" Katara asked, holding up a round object.

"I'm not sure. We could let Aang test it out!" Sokka smiled at his brilliant plan.

"And have him break a tooth if it isn't?" She wacked him on the head and discarded the object, deciding to not take any chances.

"What? Maybe-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence before green blurs dropped onto them, blind folded them, and next thing they knew they were being dragged away.

Katara squirmed, but it was useless. "Put me down!" She protested, trying to break free from the ropes that tied her hands and feet together, making bending a useless option.

They weren't carried far; she assumed they were taken to the town, considering the commotion going on around her. She felt herself being pushed up against a wooden object, maybe some kind of a pole. At least she was next to Sokka, she could tell by his voice demanding the cowards to show themselves.

Eventually the blindfolds where taken off, showing a bunch of girls in green.

"No way. Please don't tell me a bunch of girls did this to me." Sokka groaned, hitting his head on the back of the pole.

"A bunch of girls?" One of the warriors asked, her voice was light and pleasant to listen to. She looked like the leader, considering she stood up in front of the others, next to a older looking guy, who must have importance in the town. "Looks like the Unaogi will eat well tonight."

"No! Please, my brother is stupid, he doesn't know what he is saying." Katara pled, sending a glare towards her brother. "We only came here to rest for the night, we have been traveling for days and are tired."

"How do we know you aren't some Fire Nation spy? Kyoshi Island has stayed out of the war so far and we want to leave it like that." The elder guy said, pointing his finger at the two siblings.

"Is this island named after Avatar Kyoshi?" Sokka asked, thinking of Aang.

"Yes, it is." The warrior raised a eyebrow, wondering why he would ask the question.

I looked over at Sokka, sending him a look saying 'I think we are going to be welcomed guests'.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Aang just got out of his bath; it didn't take long, only a few minutes. He was just finishing up putting his clothes on when he heard a rustle in a nearby bush. He immediately got into a fight stance.

A small group of girls rushed at him (doesn't sound that bad, does it?), attempting to attack him. Aang ducked and dodged, finally he sent an airblast at one, blowing a girl off her feet. The other girls stopped, clearly shocked at the display of airbending, giving Aang his chance to dive up into the sky.

The girls scattered underneath him, rushing back towards their town. Most likely to warn the people of the possible threat coming their way, hopefully they will believe he was the Avatar.

It wasn't hard to find Sokka and Katara. They were about to be carried off to probably be killed or something like that. Aang was low enough to hear one of the women speak.

"You can't be traveling with the Avatar," she paused and crossed her arms stubbornly before continuing. "Throw them to the Unaogi."

"No one is being thrown anywhere." Aang demanded, his voice filled with authority. Several gasps were heard from the crowd surrounding his friends, most of them were from his giant blue tattoos.

"And who are you?" The chief of the town asked, not really sure what to think of the man before him.

"Avatar Aang, now let my friends go."

"Wha…- How?" He asked, shocked.

"I was frozen in a iceberg, they were daring enough to open it." Aang half joked, his goofy grin lightened up his features. It was hard for him to keep a stern face almost always he was smiling.

"How do we know that you really are the Avatar?"

Aang sighed, why must he always be asked that? His fingers twirled around and a small tornado appeared, not bigger than a few inches. It spun around his palm, making him smile from the tickling sensations it sent threw his skin. Then he would of created a flame, but he decided that was the worst element to use if he wanted to gain their trust, so he stuck with levitating a small pebble. His first choice would have been water, but there wasn't much around him.

Ohh's and awe's were heard from all people but the water tribe siblings, they were used to a display like that whenever someone asked for him to prove his title.

"Avatar Aang, it is true. I am sorry for doubting your word, please forgive me." The chief bowed down low, truly apologetic.

Aang gave him a look of sympathy, although he could care the slightest about the man doubting his title. "No, no, its fine. I prefer to be called Aang; we were just looking for a place to spend the night before we carried on in our journey. Any recommendations?"

The chief gave off a smile, knowing just the inn they could stay at.

"Uncle!" Zuko shouted in a voice that sounded almost… No, it couldn't be. Zuko almost sounded happy?

"Yes?" Iroh asked, not paying much attention. His focus was trained on the Pai Sho board in front of him.

"The Avatar only knows airbending, right?"

"Yeah he does."

"Water is the next element in the cycle," Zuko hinted, hoping his Uncle would catch on to what he was thinking.

"So?" Iroh looked up from the game, rising a skeptically eyebrow towards his Nephew.

"He is traveling with two water tribe siblings, one of them is trying to learn waterbending. If the Avatar needs to master the elements, where do you think he'll go next for his waterbending instructor?" Zuko seemed proud of his discovery, he figured this out all by himself. Well, mostly.

"They will have to go to the North Pole." Iroh smiled; glad his Nephew had hope again. He looked back down at the game, clearing his mind so he could focus.

The fallen Prince barked out orders to head towards the North. If he had any luck he would reach the North Pole before the Avatar did. No, no. If he had any luck he would capture the Avatar before he reached the North Pole.

"Watch out Avatar, I have figured out your destination." A small devious smile appeared on his thin lips.

"Man! They sure know how to treat a Avatar!" Aang stated between bites of some kind of biscuit. For breakfast they were served trays and trays of delicious sweets. Katara was sure she could visibly see Sokka gaining weight. Unlike Aang who evened out all of the sugar with fruits and veggies, Sokka just stuffed his face only on the sweets.

"Just don't get to used to this kind of treatment. We have to leave soon, remember?" Katara nibbled off the edge of a cinnamon roll. She secretly hoped everyone treated them like this when they found out about Aang being the Avatar. But she knew they were just lucky this time. Most people will be angry, have mixed emotions, seeking revenge.

Aang stood up and walked over to the window, admiring the wooden statue of Avatar Kyoshi. "You know, that statue is life size."

Sokka choked on his food, laughing hysterically. "No… Hahaa.. Way… Hehahee!" He wiped off a tear and caught his breath. "Oh Aang! Your such a crack up."

Katara looked between the two. Aang's face was blank, showing no emotion at all. Apparently Aang was being serious.

"Why aren't you laughing?..." Sokka tilted his head to the side, thinking about something. "Wait, you can't be serious?"

"No, she really was that tall. Trust me, I know." Aang said, referring to the fact that he once was her.

"You know Aang, I think you might be the only guy who can understand a girl." Katara mulled over that thought that Aang might have been more experienced in this girl thing then she was. Considering he had lived through the life of a girl many times, giving birth, periods, pregnancy, boy problems.

Aang's eyes widened, he must have been thinking of the same things. "Uh, I guess?" Although he had dealt with all of that before, he didn't particularly remember any of that. That was his past lives. Now he was Aang, and he only knew of the experiences that he has so far experienced in his short, err… long life. Then again, he could easily go through the memories of his past lives, but he would rather prefer to leave that stuff to the girls. He probably had these same thoughts and conversations with his past lives as well.

"So… Aang, how was sex? From a girl's and guy's perspective?" Sokka drawled out his sentence, smiling suggestively.

Aang blushed a deep red, completely tongue-tied. "Uh… Good I guess?"

Sokka burst out laughing, hitting his hand against the table. Unfortunately for Momo, his tail just so happened to be right in the spot Sokka's hand slammed down. The lemur screeched and jumped into the air, flying towards one of the ceiling beams, a safe distance from Sokka.

"Sokka!" Katara scolded and rolled her eyes. Why did her brother always have to be so immature?

"I-" Aang was cut off as loud girly screams filled the dense air. Aang peeked his head out the window. He looked down below to see a cluster of tweens and teenaged girls all piled together, dreamily watching him. He blushed again.

Katara couldn't help but feel jealous. All these girls where out there, drooling all over Aang. He could get any girl he wanted, when he wanted. Aang was like a god to them, the most powerful, handsome-

Whoa there. Where did that come from? She mentally slapped herself. She looked over at his back. His robes only clothed one shoulder, leaving the other one completely bare. His arms were well muscled, they were strong. He was in shape, and who was she kidding? Aang was extremely handsome. She had a right to be jealous. Aang was _hers. _ She saw him first.

Great. Now she sounded like a greedy four-year-old.

Aang shyly waved toward the clustered girls. Heartfelt sighs were the next thing to be heard.

"I LOVE YOU!" Screamed one girl, reaching out her hands, as if she was trying to touch him, despite him being two stories up.

"Uh.." Aang looked over at Katara, his eyes begging her to help him out.

She couldn't help but smile. So Aang still cared. He didn't buy into the fan girls, yet. She walked over to him, adding an extra sway to her hips. An audible gulp was heard from him as he yet again turned beat red.

She placed her arm around his shoulder, secretly enjoying the feeling of his skin against hers. She poked her head out the window with a possessive look on her face.

Several girls gasped, most of them groaned and walked away, dully dragging their feet behind them.

Aang snickered as he sent Katara a certain look. "Thanks, 'girlfriend.'"

"Anytime." Katara meant it. The more she got to touch him, the better.

"Did I miss something?" Sokka looked pale. Did the Avatar just call his baby sister girlfriend? Most importantly, did his baby sister just flirt with him?

"Oh! It isn't what it seems…" Katara spoke quickly, knowing her brother was jumping to conclusions… Again.

"I can explain..."

"Oh? Enlighten me." Sokka crossed his arms.

"Aang pretended to be my boyfriend to get that creep away from me. I'm just returning the favor by pretending to be his girlfriend so he won't be mulled over by a bunch of girls." Katara explained, knowing it sounded really stupid and unbelievable.

"Keyword is pretend," Aang added, hoping that would help some.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep on 'pretending'," Sokka rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.

Katara looked over at Aang sending him a half smile.

Sokka was off to go find those girls who ambushed him. No one kicks his butt without paying the consequences. Who did they think they were anyway?

_The Kyoshi Warriors _his annoying brain responded. "Oh shut up!" Sokka growled to himself.

"Shut up about what?" A female voice inquired, stepping up behind him.

Sokka spun around, tripped over his feet and fell over.

The girl giggled and reached out her hand, offering to help him up.

"No, I'm fine." He shrugged it off and stood up on his own, coming face to face with the lead of the Kyoshi warriors, the one who kicked his butt. Pretty convenient, now he didn't have to go look over the entire island in attempt to find her.

"Sure you are," she mused, pulling a small twig that got entangled in his ponytail.

He blushed and looked down, trying to hide it.

"I'm Suki," she responded, pretending not to notice his blush, for the sake of his damaged ego.

"Sokka." He said curtly, trying to ignore her good looks. She had typical colored eyes, nothing unusual. But something about them spoke out, grabbing his attention. They were deep, and full of emotion. Although he couldn't see her face well because of it being covered up in her make up. She was still beautiful.

"Well nice to meet you. Sorry about earlier." She looked at the ground, a bit embarrassed.

"It's fine. I guess I needed that. I was getting pretty cocky, you helped humble me and it made me realize I have a lot to learn if I want to help save the world." Sokka really had no idea where these words were coming from. He basically just said everything that went against why he was looking for her.

"Well, I could teach you if you while you're here." She offered, looking hopefully into his eyes.

"You know, I think I would like that." He smiled, looking forward to spending more time with her.

The two began to train together, teaching each other what they knew. After thirty minutes of teaching, the two got distracted with each other's lips. An intense training session slowly evolved into an intense make out session on the ground.

"Hey Katara!" Aang smiled cheerfully as he ran over to her.

"Hey Aang." Katara replied dully, knowing he just came from his group of fan girls. They finally got to him, and he started to only hang out with them.

"Why so down?" He asked, immediately sensing her off mood.

"Aang, your acting like a dick." She shocked herself with her language, but it was true. His eyes widened.

"What?"

"Just never mind!" She growled and stormed out. Aang shook his head. Why did he always screw things up with her?

"Guys! We need to leave!" Sokka said hurriedly.

"Really? You might want to ask Aang, he seems to being enjoying himself." Katara retorted, coming to a standstill.

Sokka looked over at Aang, hoping for a explanation. Aang just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have a clue what he did wrong. Sure, he started to hang out with the girls but why did that make him a bad guy?

_She's jealous you moron! _ Aang's brain yelled at him, and that's when it made sense. Katara was actually jealous! He didn't know whether to feel accomplished that Katara would actually feel jealous over him, or to feel upset that he caused her to feel this way.

"Yoohoo, earth to Aang! We spotted a Fire Nation ship sailing by. I think it might be Zuko's. We should leave soon if we don't want this town to be in trouble.

"I'll go start packing." Katara rushed off towards their inn.

"I'll prepare Appa. Go let them know we are leaving." Aang responded.

It didn't take long to get everything packed and loaded. They didn't bring much. The townspeople offered them some food; others offered blankets and other important utensils. They accepted them gratefully, and waved goodbye to the friendly little island.

Sokka gave Suki one last kiss, and promised her he would see her again soon. The clusters of fan girls were sad to see Aang go. The swarmed Appa's feet, begging him to stay.

"Sorry," Aang replied, although he wasn't really sorry at all.

"Goodbye!" He shouted, and gave one last wave to the crowd. Soon the bison was off into the sky, and they were back onto their same route, heading north.

"I'm sorry Katara." Aang was sitting cross-legged on Appa's saddle, looking down.

"It's okay Aang. I guess I was just a little jealous." She mumbled and cautiously looked up into his eyes.

"So…" He trailed suggestively. "Make up sex?"

"What?" Katara said in disbelief, did she hear him correctly?

"Nothing!"

**Again, I'm sorry for not having this up sooner! I promise the next chapter will be post by next week. Like I said before, I hit a writer's block, but I forced myself to keep writing. Although it took me a really long time to do it. **


	8. Cannon Ball

**Woo! **** Here's another chapter, and this one shall contain some Zuko/Aang action. These two haven't met in a while ;) **

**Chapter 8. **

"CANON BALLL!" Katara shouted as she jumped over the waterfall edge. Now when a person does a canon ball usually people would duck, knowing a splash would soon follow after. But when a waterbender did a canon ball, everyone knew to run for his or her lives, because a giant tsunami wave will follow shortly after.

Unfortunately Sokka never learned this lesson. Because of him living in the South Pole, there was never a need to go swimming. He had no experience what so ever of a waterbender canon balling into the water. So he has to learn this lesson the hard way.

Aang learned of this when he was a lot younger. So when he heard a certain female voice shouting that, he high tailed out of there as quick as he could.

The splash was easily heard, and to poor Sokka's late realization, that little splash won't be so little in a few seconds.

"Kataraaaa!" Sokka groaned, watching the giant wave build up more strength and speed as it rolled over to him. It seemed as if everything was going in slow motion. As the wave crashed onto the shore, it knocked everything out of its path, washing it down the river, including Sokka.

Katara winced, knowing she will never hear the end of this. "Sorry?" She called, knowing he probably couldn't hear her since he was busy drowning.

Aang stepped out of his hiding spot, only slightly wet. He watched Sokka struggle to stay a float, laughing the whole time.

"Shouldn't we help him?" He asked, taking control of his laughter.

She looked at him and shrugged. "Nah, he'll be fine."

Aang took one more glance at the water before turning back to Katara.

"Well, when does my training start?" He inquired, remembering when she promised to teach him waterbending.

"You just want to learn how to create a big splash when you jump in the water," she scolded, a small smirk enveloped her face.

"Maybe…" He replied innocently.

"Let's start with simple moves first. This will probably be easy for you since you have already messed around with them before." She walked into the water, only knee deep.

Aang took of his clothes, throwing them carelessly on the shore. He hurriedly walked into the water, standing a few feet next to Katara.

"You ready?" She asked, trying not to look at his muscled chest.

"Yes, Sifu Katara." Aang said in a deeper voice, and bowed slightly.

"Knock it off you goof." She rolled her eyes and took up her waterbending stance. Motioning him to copy her.

"You need to make sure you are balanced on your feet, and try to keep a level head. Waterbending is about your emotions; let them flow out of you, and into the water. Try to shift your weight through your stances." She informed as she pulled her arms out in front of her, and shifted her wrists back and forth. The tide in the water mimicked her wrist movement, and soon she had a small portion of water moving back and forth with her.

Aang concentrated on what she was doing, taking in her every movement. Then he copied her stance and tried to do what she said. It didn't take long. Soon he to was pulling the water back and forth.

"Hey! Look! I'm doing it!" He said excitedly, watching in awe at the water obeying his commands.

Katara watched him closely, and was amazed that his stance was almost perfect. On his first try he managed to pull much more water than she did when she was learning the move.

"Wow, I am impressed. You are doing well, Pupil Aang." She said in mock authority.

"It is similar to airbending. See, look," He stepped away from the water and put on the same stance, only this time he had one foot farther back then the other. Moving his wrists, he pushed the air back and forth.

"Your right, that is similar. Probably why you are supposed to learn water after air, it would be easier for you since they are similar." She commented a small smile worked its way to her lips. She liked watching Aang he was happy like this.

"Now get back in the water! Your lesson is no where near finished!" She scolded, watching Aang quickly get back into the water to continue his lesson.

Katara taught Aang several more moves, including the water whip. Aang was excellent. He learned quickly, and was very enthusiastic about her teachings. Katara was impressed at Aang's progress. They started with him knowing very minimal to an amazing little waterbender.

Aang enjoyed his lesson a lot, maybe more than he should. Several times Katara had to correct him, and each time she would draw her body close to his, lean into him and physically fix his stance. Sometimes Aang would find himself purposely screwing up a stance just to feel her silky skin against his. He knew it was wrong, and every vow he had made in the air temple he found himself breaking.

Katara wasn't quite sure if she was correcting Aang stance more than she should. She was starting to feel like he was abusing that factor. But she couldn't blame him. She was abusing it as much as he was. Several times she had 'fixed' his stance when he was actually doing an impeccable job.

The two weren't sure when Sokka arrived back to their camp, they didn't really care. Sokka considered this a poor excuse for a waterbending lesson. To him it looked like two teenagers flirting unmercifully with each other.

He could see Aang's blush stained cheeks whenever Katara would touch him. He could see through all of Aang's little compliments. What made him even more upset was when his innocent little sister was doing exactly the same thing.

He knew that of all people, the Avatar would be the best choice for his sister. But he still quivered at the thought of Katara getting a boyfriend. When he saw Katara, he thought of the innocent four-year-old girl who giggled and laughed at life. He wasn't ready for when she grew up. Because their father was continuously busy fighting in the war, Sokka had to take on the father role many times. He felt that ruined their relationship a bit, cause he saw her as his own daughter.

"Aang I don't know how you do it, but you are learning this faster then anyone I've seen." Katara commented, looking at the young Avatar.

"Maybe because I have a amazing teacher to teach it to me," Aang replied back, a small smile showing on his features.

Katara blushed and giggled, making Aang's smile grow bigger. Sokka rolled his eyes. He really shouldn't have gone on this trip. It would have saved him from throwing up at all of their mushy moments. These two seriously sickened him.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Prince Zuko's ship was floating lazily in the calm ocean. The ship was small, just big enough to fit Zuko's whole crew. It may look big compared to some of the smaller, Water Tribe ships, but if placed next to a typical Fire Nation ship, it paled in comparison.

"General Iroh, I see something that might interest you." One of the crewmembers said, hand the telescope towards the Dragon of the West.

"Oh?" Iroh took the telescope from his hands and looked through it. He turned it in a few directions, searching for the thing that interested the crewmember. Sure enough, there was something there.

If one looked close enough, they would notice a giant, six legged bison. Next to the bison were three people, around their teenage years. One of those kids just so happened to be bald, meaning only one thing.

"Go, alert Prince Zuko that we have spotted the Avatar." Iroh commanded, setting the telescope down.

Iroh disliked having to chase the Avatar around, constantly searching for him. But he knew that it gave Zuko hope, and it was what he needed. Zuko was a troubled boy; Iroh hoped that one day Zuko would see what his true destiny was. Iroh wasn't a bad guy. He only followed his nephew around to make sure he was safe. He didn't want to fight the Avatar; he actually hoped the Avatar will win the war.

"Uncle! Is this true? Have you spotted the Avatar?" Zuko voice disrupted Iroh's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"Yes, he isn't to far from here." General Iroh replied calmly, sipping his tea.

"Captain-" Zuko was about to give his order, but Iroh interrupted him.

"He already knows. Just prepare your self, the Avatar isn't a easy opponent." Iroh gave a small smile, remembering Zuko's last attempt at capturing the Avatar.

Zuko didn't give a reply, he knew all to well how tough of an opponent the Avatar was. His last try was a failure, he underestimated him, this time he will succeed, and he just knew it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Are you two done splashing in the water yet?" Sokka called out to them, knowing they had been doing this for a couple hours now. He was hungry, and Katara hadn't made lunch yet.

"Just about!" Katara called out, hurling a water whip towards Aang. He reached his hand out and deflected it, sending a water tentacle towards her. He sent a small airblast after it, to enhance its speed. Katara tried to deflect it but was to late. The tentacle had already wrapped around her leg.

"No fair, you cheated!" She smiled, watching the water drop as Aang discontinued his control over it.

"Well, it was the only way to win against a master."

"Eh-hem! I'm hungry!" Sokka complained, his stomach growling.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll make you lunch now. Thanks for being so patient." She said sarcastically.

Sokka didn't reply he was just busy fantasizing about what she might make. He knew it would only be a couple of things, but still, it was nice to think about.

"Is that a fire other there?" Aang asked, watching the approaching black smoke on the horizon.

Both Katara and Sokka looked up to see what Aang was talking about. It couldn't have been a fire, since the smoke was coming from the ocean. That meant only one thing. A ship was approaching them.

"Aang, I don't think that is fire," Sokka replied cautiously, hoping it wasn't some bad guy trying to kill them. He hoped it was just a passerby ship, just scurrying along to deliver something.

"Great. Just as I thought we could settle in for a while." Aang mumbled, poking his toes in the dirt. Just about every place they have been, they have always ended up meeting some kind of trouble.

"We don't even know if it is a bad ship yet. It'll probably just pass by, not really caring what it spots." Katara reasoned, setting some water in a pot to boil.

"That's only if we are lucky. Which we all know, we aren't." Sokka grumbled, hanging his head low.

It took around fifteen-twenty minutes for the ship to land onshore. Just to their luck, it was a Fire Nation ship. They managed to pack up their things quickly, without eating lunch, much to Sokka's dismay. They were about ready to take off and high tail it out of there when the Fire Nation soldiers surrounded their camp, and a certain Prince started blasted fireballs at Aang.

"You know, this is really starting to get old." Aang complained, dodging the young banished Prince's attacks.

"Why don't you just give up? Then you won't have to deal with this anymore." Zuko veered off to the side, just managing to not get blown off his feet by the airbender.

"Then I'll be stuck with you daily. That's even worse!" Aang smiled and flipped over a wave of fire. "Seriously, you should learn how to be less predictable." Aang taunted, trying to make the prince's anger boil over. That would distract Zuko from Aang's attacks, allowing the little trio to fly away.

"Oh, I'm just getting started!" Zuko leapt up into the air, kicking out another blast of fire towards the Avatar.

Aang back flipped away, landing in the shallow water. He spooked slightly, not expecting to land in the icy knee dip water. A sly smile appeared; he decided to use his newfound waterbending skills.

Making sure he wasn't about to be burned to the crisp, he concentrated his form to his best waterbending stance. He moved his arms out, commanding the water to obey his movements. Luckily, it did. Although sloppy, he managed to bring out a string of water. Making a snapping motion in his wrists, the water snapped out in front of him and wacked the young Prince on the forehead, leaving a red mark behind it.

"Good form Aang!" Katara called out, fighting her own fight with the soldiers. They were easy to take out, especially to a master waterbender, maybe not as easy for a wannabe master warrior, but Sokka managed.

"Thanks!" Aang called back, loosing his concentration for a minor second. He paid for it by almost being burned by Zuko.

"You think your all that, huh?" Zuko sneered, knowing he was starting to gain on the airbender.

"Well, I try." Aang replied with a coy smile.

The fighting resumed shortly after. It involved a lot of dodging on Aang's part. The battling was pretty even; so far it looked like know one had the upper hand. Aang knew that he needed to do something fast if he wanted to escape soon, or else he might make a mistake from his stamina wearing thin. He had to use a lot of his basic waterbending moves, and he wasn't as used to it. It burned up extra energy; he still needed to develop the necessary muscles for that element if he wanted to be able to do it just like he did airbending.

That's when it hit him. Everyone knew it was time to run when a waterbending did a cannon ball. Well, what about a master waterbending, and her pupil?

His little plan developed quickly. Carefully, he made his way over to Katara, trying to get near enough to whisper in her ear. Zuko made that almost impossible, but Aang managed.

"Cannon ball," he whispered quickly while going by her.

Her puzzled expression explained that she didn't know what he was talking about. As she thought about it a little more, she caught on. That was a good way to extinguish the soldiers around them, and the desperate Prince.

Aang and Katara vanished so fast that Zuko and his soldiers didn't even know they were gone. They looked around, trying to locate them, but it wasn't until they heard two voices when they noticed where they were.

"CANNON BALL!" The waterbending master and her pupil shouted as they jumped off the top of the waterfall. They were able to make it up there quick due to Aang's enhanced speed with airbending.

They two held the same puzzled expression that Katara did, wondering why in the world the people they were trying to capture where randomly jumping off a cliff. Then it became known when they heard the extra loud splash. It became even more known when they saw the extra large splash.

Their faces dropped in horror when they saw the ginormous wave towering over them, slowly building up, getting higher, and higher.

"RETREAT!" Zuko shouted, running for his life. Now he knew to never stick by when two waterbenders do a cannon ball. His lesson was learned. The hard way.


	9. Nicknamed

**I decided to post another chapter now, rather than wait a few days to write it. School starts up in a couple days for me, so I knew I'd better write this now, rather than get caught up in school and be unavailable. Starting today, I'm going to try to post chapters on a weekly basis. Every Monday I'll try to get another chapter up for you. I'll let you know whenever a chapter will be delayed, so you won't have to worry about the possibility of me abandoning the story. Anyway, I think you guys will like this chapter ;) **

**Chapter 9. **

Aang's mind had been wondering around a lot this morning. Really, it was the only thing to do when waiting for your traveling companions to wake up. It was habitual for him to wake up early in the morning; it was just how he was raised. Everyone was to wake up at 5 am on the weekdays, and anywhere between 5-7 am on the weekends. Some of the older teenagers would sleep in until 7, but most continued to just wake up at 5.

Aang did like waking up early, which was one of the main reasons why he still did it. The morning was the most peaceful part of the day. Besides that, watching the sunrise was a glorious event. Especially while flying high in the skies, getting up close to the bright orange ball of fire.

Aang had more interested in the sun than most people he knew. At first he didn't know why, but now he did. Before Aang thought it was just because he was fascinated by firebending, making him overly curious about the sun. Now he knew it was because he was a firebender. Being the Avatar explained a lot of weird traits about him.

He remembered one night back at the temple; he must have been around thirteen or so. It was a full moon, and for some reason he felt as if it was calling to him. He could feel the power surging through his chi, and he only felt this powerful when it was a full moon.

It never affected his bending, but that was because back then he only knew of airbending. Sometimes he would convince himself that it did, considering he just felt powerful in general. That everything he did felt even more powerful than normal. Really, that was just his imagination.

Still, he was always confused to why the full moon always had this affect on him, and only him. Why was it only when the moon was full? Back then he didn't know that it was because of him being the Avatar. It didn't even give him any suspicions. Really, the thought of being the Avatar was never on his mind. That's why when he turned sixteen it was such a shock to him.

"No, please…" It came in a soft, muffled whisper. It startled Aang, making him think something was wrong. But he soon realized it was Katara talking in her sleep.

He smiled, watching the rise and fall of her breathing. She looked so peaceful, her angel like features seemed calm, almost soothing to look at.

Her soft lips where slightly open, revealing her white teeth beneath. How he longed to kiss those lips. If only he could taste her, to feel her, to hold her close to him. Her gorgeous face plagued his every dream, always just so tantalizingly close. Course, her face wasn't the only thing in his dreams. He blushed as the memories of those other, wilder dreams came to mind.

"Mmm… Aang?" Katara's sleep coated voice disrupted his thoughts once again. He looked over at her, expecting to see her closed eyelids again, but this time sapphire blue eyes met his.

"Hey Katara," He whispered, a small smile forming. She was really adorable when waking up.

"What time is it?" She asked, slowly getting more conscious.

"I don't know, maybe 6?" He replied nonchalantly.

"How long have you been up?"

"5"

"…"

"What?" He quirked an eyebrow, guess waking up that early wasn't a common thing in the water tribes.

"Nothing," she replied, looking around at her surroundings.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Aang suggested.

"Right now?" She asked in disbelief. It was fricken 6 in the morning!

"Why not?" He answered cheerfully.

"Oh fine. I can't believe I am going for a walk at 6 in the morning!" She mumbled before standing up. A early morning breeze chilled her skin, making her shiver.

"Here," Aang wrapped his warm arms around her, and moved his hands up and down her arms quickly to help warm her up. She sighed, and relaxed into this touch on her bare skin.

That was when she remembered she was only in her underwear! Aang seemed to realize it about the same time as she did. He blushed and pulled back from her, embarrassed.

Sure, they had seen each other like this. Aang usually practiced waterbending in his underwear, but Katara usually practiced in her special swimwear. It covered more, allowing her to be flexible without worrying about showing more skin then intended.

Her underwear was just a wrapping around her breasts, no sleeves at all. Her bottom wrappings where much like typical underwear. They just went down a little lower, but not much. At least she wasn't completely naked. But this was still the most skin she had ever revealed to a boy, and probably the most skin Aang had ever seen.

"Erm…..Sorry.." Aang awkwardly said, still blushing like a tomato.

"Uh, it's fine?" Katara stated, still rather questioning. She was blushing redder then ever. "Um, could you turn around so I can get dressed?" She asked. Although he was staring at the ground, she still felt uncomfortable knowing he was standing towards her.

He complied, and turned around quickly, staring rather intently at the tree. Great, this was all he needed. Now he had even more of her bare skin to add to his dreams.

"Okay, I'm ready." Katara's voice drifted behind him. He turned to look at her; glad to see she was wearing clothing… Okay, that was a lie. Even though she was just wearing her same simple dress, with her hair all loose and messy, she still looked like a goddess.

"Great!" He cheerfully took her hand, ignoring the blush creeping up onto his cheeks. If they were going to walk together, they were going to do it right.

Katara was taken aback by his boldness of grabbing her hand and dragging her off through the woods. Her hand felt like it was on fire from the contact of his skin. She slightly admired how their hands seemed to fit perfectly together.

They walked in silence for several minutes, just watching the beautiful scenery around them. Secretly they were thinking about each other, wondering what to say next.

"Sorry about earlier, forgot about my clothing, or rather, lack of." Katara apologized, remembering the feeling of his arms wrapping around her body to warm her up. Probably the greatest feeling she had ever felt.

"No need to apologize, besides, the view wasn't half bad," Aang looked at her with a sly smile and winked. He really did not know where his sudden confidence came from. He was just going with instinct. _Going with your instincts can get you killed_.

"Oh really? Wish I could say the same about you," She replied, returning the sly smile.

"Ouch," Aang tried to look hurt, putting his hands over his heart as if she hurt him. "You know I'm irresistible."

"Shut up, dreamer." Katara shoved him playfully.

"Dreamer?" He asked with a quirked brow.

She ignored him, liking his new nickname.

"Well then sweet cheeks, where we headin' to?" Aang gave her his best-crooked smile.

"Sweet cheeks? Seriously?" She asked in disbelief.

"You gave me a nickname, it's only fair I give you one back." Aang said casually.

She shook her head slowly, really, Aang was incredibly cute, and it was making it hard for her to hide her emotions. Sometimes she thought he was purposely trying to make her blush.

Aang gave her a playful shove, almost knocking her off her feet. He took a quick glance in her direction, watching as she stumbled to regain her equilibrium. She had a menacing look of revenge on her face, making Aang chuckle and take off running.

Aang could of easily gotten away from her, but the thing was, he didn't want to get away from her. He wanted to feel her hands on his shoulder, pushing him down. Yeah, it may sound weird, but when you are as desperate as he was, you would try anything.

It didn't take long for her to catch up to him, considering he was just jogging, without his enhanced airbending speed. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, an evil plan forming in her mind. Unfortunate for Aang, he couldn't see that plan developing in her sparkling, mischievous eyes.

She spun him around, forcing him to stop and face her. Taking both of her hands, she placed them firmly on his chest. Her touch lingered for a second as she tried to regain her composure. She was commanding herself to not blush; it would give away her teasing gestures.

Her fingers slowly traced upward, until they rested at the beginning of his neck. She looked him straight in the eyes, trying to put on her best, non-blushing seductive look.

Aang gulped, his heart was racing, and he was started to feel a little dizzy, in a good way. Her hands on his chest were more than he could have hoped for. He was just expecting a small shove on the shoulder, nothing like this.

Her left hand sneaked up higher, until it traced his jaw line, she could almost feel his second gulp. She leaned upward, balancing on her toes, her lips just mere inches away from his.

Her breath tickled his nose, making Aang shudder slightly. Her gaze into his eyes never faltered, and he found himself turning into a pile of mush beneath her intoxicating embrace. He knew he had to stop this, before it turned into something he would regret.

"Would you stop that?" Aang mustered, barely able to get the words out. He was breathless, and really do not want her to stop. But he knew he had to if he wanted to live to see another day. Sokka was very protective of his sister.

"What?" She whispered innocently, her breath continued to tickle his nose, the heat of her lips radiating off onto his. She could feel a slight bump against her thigh through their tight position. She knew what it was. "Is it turning you on?" She was almost shocked by her own words, but she knew if she was going through with this plan, she needed to play the part.

Aang was silent, mulling over what he did to deserve this. This went against every teaching and vow he had made at the temple, and he was so close to breaking them right now.

"Maybe..." His voice was now low and husky, mostly a automatic response from their intimate position.

"I… I think I kinda like that," Katara hesitated, but completed her sentence with confidence. She was a little surprised at how much she could control Aang. Just by using her feminine charm.

Aang's eyes slightly widened, and his blush stained cheeks turned even redder, if possible. "Really?" He almost choked out. This was his wildest dream, but this time it was reality.

Katara leaned in closer, their lips just millimeters apart. Aang could almost feel them on his. She pressed into him, and then shifted her head slowly to the side. Leaning even further upward, she tilted her head to his ear.

"Sucker."

During her little alluring moves, she was able to sneak her hands back to his chest without him noticing. Before he knew it, he was being shoved back, and almost fell onto his butt before he was able catch himself.

"You dirty little tease…" Aang scolded, trying to rid his deep cherry red blush. He actually wasn't surprised to say the least. He knew a moment like that was two good to be true. He had underestimated her, Katara may seem like a innocent girl, but she knew what she was doing.

"You were so easy! It almost wasn't fun." Katara teased him, giggling between breaths.

Aang sent her a childish glare. She was asking for it.

He snatched his arms out, spinning her around before crashing her to the ground. Of course he did it gently, so as not to hurt her, but it was sudden enough to knock the wind out of her.

She was going to get it now.

He hovered over her, pinning her arms above her with one hand, while the other quickly snatched her waist. He leaned in closer, and closer, and she was just sure he was going to kiss her. Then he did the unexpected. He darted down and before she could struggle away, his lips where on the sensitive area of her neck. She jumped, a gasp escaping her mouth.

When she teased Aang she only toyed with his chest a bit. She kept it as innocent as possible. Aang seemed to have other ideas with his teasing. He used her weakness against her, knowing, that just about any girl would crumble with this treatment. How often does a handsome, noo… That didn't fit. Sexy. That was a good way to describe him. How often does a sexy guy randomly start kissing your neck? Seriously, it doesn't happen. Well she did kind of deserve it, considering the harsh treatment she gave him just a few minutes ago.

Aang of course pictured himself doing this to her on much different circumstances. Where it actually meant something to her, rather than him just getting his payback. He kissed and sucked gently at her neck until he was sure she had a large hickey. He wanted to mark her, just so she would receive grief from Sokka. Although, he didn't think about the part when Sokka would blame him for giving it to her…

Aang smiled, looking up at her face again, satisfied that it was a deep crimson red.

"How does it feel to be on the receiving end of the blushes?" Aang asked, still breathless from the close proximity of their bodies. He really had it bad.

"Actually, it isn't to bad." Katara replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. She failed. Seriously, how was that possible after what just happened to her? 

Aang smiled seductively, and leaned into her ear, his teeth slightly grazing it before he spoke his next words. "Want me to make you blush some more?" His words came out extremely husky, low, and sexy.

Jus the sound of it gave her goose bumps, and what made it worse was she could feel him speak those words as his breath tickled the inside of her ear.

His hand trailed from her waist, to her stomach. Slowly it trailed upward, and up, and up. Katara was starting to get worried that his hand's destination was in an area of her chest she'd rather not involve in this. Thankfully the hand stopped where her bindings begun. It was still awfully close to her breasts. Another warm blush filtered through her cheeks.

Aang's second hand released her arms, and slowly went above her left breast before carefully going around it to trace her side. His hand kept going, as far as he could reach. Then it went upwards, but this time it snaked across her leg and landed on the middle of the inside of her thigh, but didn't go further. She was grateful for that, she didn't know how she could of taken it if it went any closer.

She was blushing redder than he was, Aang clearly won, and he smiled in victory. She groaned, knowing how easy it was for him to defeat her, almost easier then it was for her to defeat him. The sad thing about this was that she was expecting him to tease her, and she still melted. Guess it was impossible not to.

"You're an ass." She growled, her knee moved quickly, and stopped threateningly close to his lower regions. He had no doubt about what she meant. Thankfully for him she had to much compassion to knee him in the balls.

"I try," Aang gave her his wide goofy grin.

That was when they both realized that they were still in the same position, with Aang's hands so close to her womanly parts. They both looked at each other and blushed a color that beat both of their blushes from each other's teasing.

Aang got up quickly, and held out his hand to help her up.

"Sorry," he mumbled, knowing he probably let his inner desires pervert his teasing to a further degree than necessary.

"It's fine. Payback's a bitch." Katara replied, remembering hearing Sokka say that so many times before.

"Watch your language, Sweet Cheeks." Aang chided, wondering what happened to his innocent Katara. Surely he didn't ruin her so soon!

"Excuse me, Mister makeupsex." Katara sent him a one eyed glare.

"What? I thought you didn't hear that!" His jaw dropped. He was seriously screwed.

"Just what I wanted you to think. I take back my defeat, I've been playing you ever since Kyoshi Island!" Katara said proudly.

Aang smirked, "I take my nickname back, you are not sweet cheeks anymore, player." He knew she would hate that nickname.

"Noo!" She whined like a child, she really did not want Aang calling her a player.

"Fine. You won fair and square, you are a master at teasing, oh wise Avatar Aang." Katara mocked, faking a bow.

"Good choice, Sweet Cheeks." Aang smiled gleefully; glad he was now the victor, again.

The two walked together in silence, their shoulders would often meet, and every now and then they would hold hands. They might of not been a couple, but they were pretty close to it. Aang felt he'd rather have a friendship like this for a while longer before pursuing anything more with Katara. Well, unless Katara decided she would want to go further with their relationship. He would be ready, waiting for her to say the word. But staying friends like this was nice, at least for a while longer.

Then again, that morning's shenanigans were a lot more than just friendship. They just didn't want to admit it to each other that they were both hopelessly in love with each other. They might of known of their affections, but they did not know the depth of the affections. That was something that they would learn about as time expanded.

Each one walked, both silent, both deep in thought. Most likely thinking about earlier that morning, both embarrassed by their unusual bold actions. But neither of them regretted it.

"Katara, I'm glad I was stuck in that iceberg for 500 years." Aang said suddenly, breaking the silence between them. He lazily kicked at a rock with his toe, watching it skip across the ground.

"How so?" She responded, looking at him through her thick lashes.

"If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't of met you."

**Now this was a fluffy chapter. I had been dying to do one of these for a while now. Right now felt like the best time to do a chapter like this. I hope this satisfies you until next Monday ;) As you can tell, I kicked up their relationship a bit in this chapter. If anyone of you recognized the line I used during Katara's teasing, you get a cookie =D It's from a movie, if that helps any. **

**PS. Remember me saying, if you even read it, at chapter one that this story may be around 56 chapters? Haha, boy was I wrong. I'm at chapter nine, and this story is just barely starting. This will have many more chapters. **

**Also, thanks for all the reviews! I really love reading them, and it truly does make me write more. **

**Also, sorry if I over use my comma's, a bad habit of mine.**

**Thanks for reading, if you even read this. **


	10. Gaining Alliance

**Time for another chapter! Ready to meet our good friend King Bumi's like great great great grandson? Or something like that? I know our favorite trio is! Enjoy :) Also, sorry for the confusion! I can't believe I forgot and actually put Bumi in this chapter! Well have no fear, it is edited and all fixed up!**

**Chapter 10.**

The little group stayed at the same campsite for a few more days before continuing their journey to the North Pole. Aang and Katara practiced waterbending nearly the whole time. Aang was improving quickly, and he was already at an intermediate level. Currently he was stuck an octopus stance, it was defiantly harder then the previous stances he had mastered. Mostly because it was the least like airbending, making him actually think like a waterbender.

Sokka was curious on what went on during Aang and Katara's early morning walk. When they came back they still were blushing like mad, and they were slightly avoiding each other. Of course the avoiding only lasted for a few hours. Soon they were back to their usual flirting selves. Sokka instantly knew something was up. As much as it disturbed him, it really made his day to see the to lovers in so much discomfort.

Aang was the one who declared that they needed to start up their travels again. Although it was nice to stay lazy for a few days, they still were running on a tight schedule.

They decided to head towards the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. It was a few days away, and it was toward a general northern position. Sokka wasn't to thrilled to stop at another city. He knew that every populated area they stopped to rest was a risk from being attacked by the Fire Nation.

Aang convinced him that he used to go to Omashu a lot when he was younger to visit his friend Bumi. Sokka did hold up the argument that Bumi is dead by now, but Aang still managed to make him go.

They had been flying for several days now, and finally they reached the city. The water tribe siblings stared at it in awe, it was massive. The whole city was in a pyramid shape with houses and building spiraling up it. It had large chutes that circled around the entire city, although they weren't sure what they were for.

"Welcome to the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!" Aang announced with a big grin on his face. He laughed at their awestruck faces.

"They have buildings that don't melt!" Sokka commented, wishing he had heard of things like this before he insisted on continuously rebuilding the igloos, not like they had much choice.

"Erm, yeah. They kind of don't have a choice." Aang looked over at Sokka with a 'way to go brainiac' expression.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it was magnificent." Katara noted, sending him a small glance.

"I don't lie about things like this," Aang said, landing Appa a little ways from the city, not wanting to draw to much attention to them.

The trio dismounted the bison, and while the water tribe siblings headed off towards the entrance of the city, Aang gave Appa a quick goodbye, promising his friend that they will return soon.

As they walked along the narrow strip of earth, they watched the guards that they will have to go through. Taking mental notes on what not to do when they saw the guards kick some of the people in front of them out.

"Aang, maybe we should hide your arrow incase, well, you know." Katara's concerned voice whispered towards the monk. Well, according to her memories of him a few days ago, he wasn't much of a monk.

"Nah, we'll be fine. What can two earthbenders do against the Avatar, a waterbending master, and a warrior?" Aang asked her, knowing that she couldn't deject that statement.

"I guess your right…" Her voice held a air of uncertainty, hoping they won't regret that decision.

"Who are you, and what is your business here?" One of the tall, burly guards demanded. The other one bended a large boulder out of the ground and held it over their heads, trying to intimidate them. Of course it worked, to a certain extent.

"I am Avatar Aang, this is my waterbending master, Katara, my-" He thought for a moment, what would he call Sokka without offending him? _You're the idea guy! Think of something! _Katara's voice echoed in his head. "And he is my strategist." Aang smiled proudly, he was doing a good job at this. Or so he thought. "We come to speak with the earth king on matters about the war." Okay, so that was partly a lie.

The guards stared at the trio of teenagers in front of them. Sure, the kid who said he was the Avatar had arrow tattoos of a master airbender, but so did every Avatar impersonator. They burst out laughing, and it died quickly when they saw the still serious expressions of the kids in front of them. Suddenly the rock dropped lower, threateningly.

"We don't have time for your trickery, Kid. We meet a hundred Avatars a day. You are going to need a better costume then that to make us believe you. Now leave, you are wasting our time." The guard who held the rock over their head spoke. His voice was low and held authority within it.

Aang closed his eyes in utter concentration. He planted his feet firmly into the ground and concentrated on the mass of earth above him, trying to see control of it. A minute passed of him doing this, and once he finally got the feel of the levitating rock, he struck out and the rock shot out from the guard's control, and it flung out, falling to the dark abyss below.

"You calling me a liar?" Aang was suddenly right in their face, he moved from being ten feet away from them, to right in their personal space in the blink of an eye. Obviously he moved with speed enhanced by airbending.

The two guards huddled together, slightly scared of the powerful kid in front of them. Of course, he didn't do much to exert the look of pure power, but the way he looked at them, the way he spoke, it made it clear that he was not a force to reckon with.

"No! No, we uh, uh, how can we be sure you are the Avatar?" One of the guards timidly asked, looking over to his buddy to see if he was in the same condition he was. He was.

"I just earthbended, then airbended over to you. What more proof do you need?" Aang spluttered, irritated. How thick were their skulls?

"Well it is hard to be sure if you used airbending, or if you are just a really fast kid." The second guard replied, trying not to piss off the teen in front of him anymore than he had to.

Aang sighed, and moved his hands in a circular motion, soon a spiral of wind was copy his arm's movements, and within a split second he stuck his arms out foreword, and out shot the wind. It knocked the helmets off of the guards.

"It is true. You really are the Avatar. Please, forgive us for our rude behavior." They spoke, bowing towards him.

"You are forgiven." Aang replied, smiling at the cocky pitch to his voice. Katara sent him a glare as if saying he was overdoing it, but he just pointed to the spot on her neck that held the very, very faint red mark from the hickey he gave her days ago. It had nearly vanished now, but he still used it against her. Her hands quickly shot up to the spot, covering it again, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

By the end of this exchange of looks, the giant earthen walls had opened, allowing them access to the city. They bowed gratefully to the guards, and walked in happily. Sokka decided that they really should go visit the earth king to discuss the war, maybe he could help them, besides, Aang needs an earthbending teacher. Shouldn't the king be an earthbender?

"Hellooo…" A girly voice giggled out. Aang snapped his head up to see where the voice came from. He saw a young girl in her early teens walking towards him 'flirtatiously'. He forced himself to not roll his eyes.

"Erm, hi," he said uncomfortably. The girl was all over him. Didn't her parents teach her personal space?

"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?" She asked in a annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Typical. Looking at fresh meat always thrilled most boy crazy teens. He just wondered how many other men were victims of her tactics.

"Yes, _we _are." A new voice chimed in, one that sounded territorial, and pissed. This was a voice that he was all too familiar with. A voice that was owned by a angel, Katara.

"Oh, yeah. Well it was nice meeting, you?" The girl shifted uncomfortably under Katara's stern glare. She also noticed Katara's extra emphasis on the 'we'.

"Well, we must get going." Aang interrupted the two girl's meeting. He knew that when somebody set Katara off, you just need to get her out of there as quick as possible before something bad happened.

Once they were a good distance away, Sokka began to question the couple. The look Katara sent the girl was a look of 'back off, this is my property.' Not a look of 'will you just leave my friend alone?' No, this was the look a girlfriend would give to any girl who looked at her boyfriend in intimate way. A look that could kill… Well, knowing Katara, any look could kill.

"So… What exactly happened between you guys when you went on that walk days ago?" Sokka asked the question that had been burning on the back of his mind for such a long time.

Aang stumbled slightly, mostly from the shock of the question. He quickly regained himself. "N-nothing! Why would you think that something happened between us?"

Sokka looked at him slyly. Now he was convinced something happened. He risked a glance over at Katara to see her sending him a glare.

"Sokka." She threatened in her sibling argument voice. He hated to sound like a sissy, but whenever Katara used that voice with him, it always sent some kind of chill up his spine.

"I'm just saying, I saw that look you gave that girl. It was a lot different then a normal look of someone trying to get someone else to back away from a friend. It was rather, territorial." Sokka said, hoping this conversation would end up to his benefit.

"I think you over analyze things." Katara said, irritated.

"Does your walk have anything to do with that suspicious red mark?" Sokka's eyes shifted to the faded area of skin that held, what he believed to be a hickey.

"NO!" Katara and Aang both shouted, and instantly they looked away and blushed. Confirming Sokka's theory.

"I knew it!" The wannabe warrior exclaimed happily. Then the realization of what that mark meant hit him.

"You are so dead." Sokka's happy dance turned into a vicious scowl, now he wished more than ever that he were taller than Aang.

"Heh… It was a accident?" Aang said questionably, knowing it wouldn't work.

"Like that is going to work."

"I tried!"

"Not hard enough!" Sokka half growled, but by now their little argument went from its former serious air, to a joke.

"You guys are so immature." Katara grumbled at their useless bickering. At least they weren't constantly at each other's throats like they were when they first met. Now she could at least enjoy some time of peace.

They walked on, going up the spiraling city. The higher they went, the higher the class of people they saw. It started out at smaller houses, and now the houses where large and spacious. Clearly they were meant for the upper ring men.

It didn't take to long to reach the palace. The time passed quicker with their conversations. Sokka rambled on about random topics, while young single women constantly attacked Aang. Katara was clearly busy shooing them all away from him.

The palace was beautiful, but it paled in comparison to the Southern Air Temple. Then again, just about everything paled in comparison to the glorious temple. Really, the only thing that could give the temple a run for its money would be the other air temples.

The palace was decorated heavily with green, and large earth kingdom symbols were at nearly every wall. They expected that, so it wasn't really a big 'wow' when they saw it. Aang had experience with this palace. His old dear friend Bumi lived here, and Aang often visited him a lot. The two friends knew the palace inside and out. They even discovered many secret caverns and escape roots.

One of Aang's favorite memories with Bumi was when they used the delivery system as a large slide. Aang, of course, used airbending to enhance their speed. Bumi used earthbending to send them from one chute to another, and the two caused some pretty big damage.

Although the punishment was horrible, they still loved to do it again and again. Aang probably would of gone done the mail system again, but he knew the matters of war were much more important. Course, he had no idea what they would talk about, but guess it never hurt to plan ahead.

Aang was excited to meet the King of Omashu, since he must be Bumi's son. But maybe, by some chance, Bumi was still alive. Aang shook his head and laughed quietly. No, impossible.

"We wish to speak with the King," Sokka's voice awakened Aang from his thoughts. In front of them was another set of guards, guarding the entrance to the throne room.

After explanation of who they were, and some laughing fits from the guards, they finally got them to believe them. Both of the guards stomped their foot on the ground, and both of the large doors creaked open. In walked the small trio, watching their surrounding area cautiously, as if something was about to jump out at them.

"Why hello! Who might you be?" A old, happy voice called out in warm welcome.

In the giant green chair sat one of the oldest, crinkliest people they had ever saw. Nah, he wasn't that old. But it was close enough to boost their imagination of him being older.

"I'm Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. This is my sister, Katara. Our friend over here is the Avatar." Sokka introduced them as he bowed in respect to the King of Omashu.

When the king set his eyes on the trio, he didn't find anything to unusual. Just two water tribe siblings coming in to speak with him about something. He didn't even take notice of the presence of the third person until the boy Sokka had said his name, or, rather, his title.

When he heard the word Avatar, was when he noticed the presence of the third person. It was rather exciting, really. He would of never thought that he would see the Avatar in his life time. Didn't the Avatar used to be friends with the former King Bumi, like 500 years ago? Psh... Like they would ever meet again! **(A/N: Glances around the room nervously. What? It isn't my fault I forgot the timeline for this chapter...)**

"We wish to speak to you about the war," Aang voiced, stepping up, in front of Sokka.

The king looked at the Avatar, he smiled a old, wrinkled up kind of smile. Well, for someone of his age, it was the only kind of smile. He was almost a hundred years old. Long life spans lived in the family. Psh... Not like anyone could live for 500 hundred years. (**A/N: Notice how I keep making fun of my, extremely moronic mistake?)**

"Of course! Come; let's discuss this over a feast. It's not everyday the Avatar drops bye." King Bumi looked over at his guard expectantly, and watched him scurry off to prepare the feast.

With some small entertainment to pass the time, the feast was in motion, and everyone was seated accordingly at the table. Sokka stuffed his face, zoning out the world while he ate. Katara took girl like bites of food, trying to look somewhat dignified. Aang just stared at the King, he couldn't help by find that something was familiar about him.

"May I ask, do you know anything about King Bumi?" Aang asked the question that had been haunting him ever since they stepped foot into this city.

The old king smiled, King Bumi was a well known king. His rule was filled with prosperity to the city, well as much prosperity as possible with the Fire Nation beginning the war. In his teachings he remembered how the old, former king used to come up with all kinds of mischief with the Avatar.

"Avatar, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. Don't you see the resemblance? Haha! Of course not. He was a successful ruler, and loved by his people. I'm sure you will be glad to hear that." The king laughed, loud snorts coming and going at random intervals.

"Oh! So they still have the same traditions of the first born son of the king, becomes king after his father?" It wasn't much of a question, since it was already answered. But Aang smiled fondly, apparently the new king still had some of King Bumi's former traits, such as the crazy snorting and upbeat attitude.

"I never expected to ever see the Avatar in my presence. I thought the world was doomed. You gave me hope again." Bumi looked fondly at Aang, smiling.

"Heh, I get that a lot." Aang laughed and stepped back to his spot across from Katara.

Aang went on to talk about his adventures with Bumi, and all of their plots and plans against some of the noble men. They talked, and laughed, catching up on what they missed. Bumi was fascinated by how Aang was rescued from his icy prison. Aang was fascinated on how Bumi became king, and how he was still alive.

"So you and the water tribe girl, eh?" The King asked, winking at the Avatar. Over their conversation, he already felt a budding friendship with the Avatar.

Katara choked on her water. Now that was something. You never heard of a master waterbender, choking on water. Aang nearly dropped his fork, but caught it before it clattered to the ground. The two glanced at each other and blushed, looking away quickly.

"What? Noo… We're just friends." Aang said quickly, looking at Bumi with a 'are you crazy!' expression.

"BULLSHIT!" Sokka shouted, slamming his fists on the table dejectedly. "My sister has a fricken hickey on her neck from you! I know what you guys did on your little 'walk' with each other!" Sokka blamed, still laughing.

He watched the teens amusedly, he remembered when times where like that with him. He never really was interested in girls. He had many of them as friends, and he preferred it stay that way. He never felt like complicated his good friendships with romantic feelings. So he just grew old, but never alone.

"I told you it was a accident!" Aang sighed, knowing he would never live this down.

"Yeah, sure…" Sokka sighed, finally getting a hold of his laughter.

"Okay! Okay! Fine, Aang gave me a hickey. Big deal. Let's just forget about it. Do you remember why we came here? We came to discuss the war, now let's start discussing it." Katara said frustrated at her brother's immaturity.

The room settled quickly, and together they talked about the war. They decided that Aang was just going to have to master all the elements, just like their original plan. The king gave them all assurance that he will be supporting them all the way, and if they ever needed help, he will be there.

Aang decided that this was a productive day. He gained an alliance to help him, and managed to get several hugs from Katara. They weren't even forced!

Yeah, things were looking up.

**Okay, so those of you who didn't read the un-editted chapter, I accidentally forgot my timeline and put the hundred year time span in here, and even had Aang re meet Bumi. Guess thats why you aren't supposed to type up a chapter way past midnight, huh? Got confused between some other short story I'm working on :/ But, please forgive me! As you can see, I corrected most of my errors through my quick scan over the chapter. Again, I'm sorry!**


	11. Listening

**Am I dead yet? **

**Nope.**

**I'm about to be though...**

**You guys all about ready to murder me for the lack of updating? Yeah, I thought so. Sorry about that. I was not expecting it, but we had an extremely busy weekend, school turned into bitch mode, and I got sick! At one point, we had over a hundred people at my house! Obviously, I couldn't just go sit in a corner for several hours to type a new chapter. School decided to go all gangbuster on me, and I was busy doing that during my free time. Hopefully this will be my last delayed chapter in a long while. With a few little sweet scenes to sugar it up.**

All good luck meant bad fortune. It's just the way things are. If you are having a good streak, you are doomed to have a bad event. It is just a well-known fact. You are crazy to say 'Man, what good luck I have!' or 'By golly, life is really good right now!'. If you have ever said this, then well, you are basically cursing yourself to do something bad. Yes, yes, it sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but it's true! Mark my word for it!

Apparently, Team Avatar has not learned this important life fact. Maybe it is Sokka's instinct that they don't know it yet, or maybe it is Katara's attitude. Well, we'll never know.

"I'm bored."

"What else is new?"

"Shut up"

"I dislike you."

"I hate you."

"Oh? How bout I go and shov-"

"GUYS!" Aang screeched at the bickering siblings. They really got on his nerves…and each other's. The two turned to look at him, their faces scrunched up in frowns. Sokka looked mutilated, while Katara looked as beautiful as ever.

"Sorry…" Katara's frowned turned into a somber expression, her warm eyes glittering in the sunlight.

"I understand, we are all a bit on edge after walking most the day, but we can't let that cloud our actions." Aang lectured only to receive a groan from Sokka.

"Well great O' Wise Guy, we wouldn't be all edgy if YOUR bison wasn't so TIRED all the time." Sokka grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest pointedly.

"So your blaming Appa for your problems!" Aang fumed, "I can't believe you! She's been carrying all of us, and our supplies for two days straight and you get mad at her for being tired?" Aang glared at the immature idea guy, who was clearly upset.

"And your calling us touchy," Sokka grumbled under his breath, not thinking the tattooed youth would hear him.

"Sokka, I'm a airbender. I control the air currents. Sound travels through the air. I can hear just about everything, including your grumbling." Aang took a deep breath as to not get further irritated.

"Come on, lets just walk in silence, we are all to tired to be talking to each other without arguing." Katara reasoned, looking at her brother, and the Avatar.

"Fine," they both grumbled unhappily.

They walked on for several more hours, just placing one foot in front of the other. Their minds where numb to their surroundings, fortunately they weren't in a dangerous territory. Although in this day and age, nothing and nowhere is safe. But, for their sakes, lets call it a un-dangerous area.

A wide open spread of earth laid in front, and behind them. Miles upon miles it went on, and on. Not a tree, a mountain, or a rock in sight, just a flat, level area of black dirt. Yes, I said it right, black dirt.

Apparently some war, or firebender incident occurred on this wide outstretched layer of land, for everything was burned to the crisp. Part of the reason why no tree, or rock was in sight, it burned away.

When they first landed, and came to the black flat of hell before them, Aang was deeply hurt, sad. It was hard for him to see such devastation. He could feel the mourning of the Spirit who roamed this land, and he could feel all the crying souls of the fallen warriors. To him, this area was a graveyard. He felt like he was disrupting the dead by walking on their graves. But of course, he wasn't, well, in a way.

"Is that…Is that greenery up ahead?" Katara whispered, disbelieving her eyes. In fact, she rubbed them just to make sure.

"It is!" Sokka rejoiced, so happy find life in this barren strip of land. He had walked on dead dirt for as long as he could take. Everything looked the same, for miles and miles, nothing changed. It was driving him crazy!

"Don't get your hopes up, after all, it could just be a mirage." Aang responded, keeping his eyes fixed on the green splotch of land up ahead.

"If it is what we think it is, then we should set up camp there." Sokka's pace sped up, he was very eager to get to the grass, and to rest.

It didn't take them that long to reach the rich haven of grass. They set up camp rather quickly; all of them eager to get some rest and leave this doomed place. They were to worn out from the long day of walking to notice that they weren't alone.

The trio did their nightly rounds, Sokka set up the tent, Katara prepared dinner, and Aang took care of the animals. At the end of it all, they would separate out and do various things until the food was done cooking. The bald monk and the water tribe siblings cuddled up against Appa, inhaling their dinner. They skipped lunch that afternoon so they could get more ground covered.

"Katara, I'm tired of eating rice every night!" Sokka complained, his mouth full of rice.

"We've only been eating it since yesterday… You know, since ate up all of are other food supplies." She glared at him in a sisterly way.

"What can I say? I'm a growing man."

Snickers between Aang and Katara were Sokka's only answer.

"Let's just go to bed and get out of here. I don't want to be in this creepy place any longer than I have to." Aang said while stifling a yawn. Sleep sounded like heaven after their long day of walking.

"Mmmmm Hmmm, sounds great." Sokka smiled blissfully as his eyes slowly, sleepily shut closed.

"Of course you like the idea of sleeping," Katara sighed, her brother was a sleep addict.

So the small trio settled in for the night, finishing off their nightly chores, together, one by one, they fell into their sleeping bags for a long night of much needed sleep. Aang took up his usual sleeping spot on Appa's warm furry tail. Katara slept up against the bison's belly and Sokka.. Well, he was a restless sleeper so he was in a lot of random spots.

Katara was tired. There was a nagging voice in her mind that kept her awake. She felt on edge and nervy, this meadow had a haunted feel to it. Every noise, every crinkle, anything, sent chills up or down her spine.

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXO~Why won't my dividers work?~XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

"Katara?" A hoarse whisper faintly tugged on her consciousness. It sounded almost familiar, like someone she knew…

"You awake?" The voice whispered again, a little less hoarse this time, now it just sounded raspier. She stirred about, and then she came to her senses a bit more and realized the whisper was coming from Aang.

"Mmmm, what?" She replied groggily, still have asleep, her eyes shut tight, not wanting to wake up to whatever ungodly hour it was.

"Come on, it isn't that early!" Aang smiled, she was forcing herself out of the sleeping bag, groaning and complaining the whole time about waking up early.

"Aang, it is still dark out! It is probably way earlier that 7, in conclusion, this is probably around 5 or 6 in the morning." She said while looking at the nonvisible sun.

"Like I said, it isn't that early! Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go on a short walk?" He asked sheepishly.

"Another one? Why does it have to be sooooooo early?" She drawled out, although she did want to go on a walk with Aang, and secretly, she hoped that they would end up doing what they did last time.

"Sokka would be awake if we were to set out later, then he would probably end up tagging along with us to make sure no shenanigans went on." Aang grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, taking a few steps forward, pushing her forward with him.

"Alright, alright, you sure are impatient this morning! Let's go before you drag me to death." She half teased, pulling her hand out of his.

The two walked, still surrounded by the gloomy black meadow of hell. They walked along an imaginary path, keeping a respectable distance between them. Katara bit her lip to control herself from saying something embarrassing, while Aang was trying to push words out of his mouth to start up a conversation, the reason he wanted to go on a walk.

"Well, Katara, there is something I want to say…" His grey eyes bore onto her; his complete, undivided attention was on her.

"Umm, what?" It was kind of a rude response, but she was tired, making her impatient.

"Well, I wanted to apologize." Aang dropped his intense stare, staring at the ground like there was no tomorrow.

"Apologize for what?" Katara wasn't expecting Aang to use this walk as a time to confess, especially when she couldn't think up one thing he has done wrong.

"Well, I'm sorry... Back a week ago, when we um... went on that walk... err, I got caught up in the moment, and I wasn't thinking. Sorry for acting so out of line. It was very un-gentleman like of me." Aang's eyes peered out at her, they looked guilty, and pleading. This made Katara like Aang all the more. He was a perfect gentleman, with a wild side. There was the humble Monk, his natural, airbending side of him. Then, a more wilder, bold side of him would come out. It made him daring, a tease, and I dare say, a bit aggravating. That was his Avatar side, when he was no longer being influenced by his native element air, but going through the influence of _all _the elements.

"Aang, there is nothing to apologize for. We had a fun time, just messing around. Friends can do that, it's okay." Katara attempted to reassure him, but she didn't understand that, that was not what made him want to apologize.

"No, it's not that. Katara, you don't understand. I'm a monk, I'm not allowed to do those things, I vowed not to, and now, here I am, disrespecting my culture." Aang stressed, if he had hair, he would of been pulling it.

"Aang, we didn't even kiss... I don't understand why what happened has been upsetting you so much...?" Katara sighed, Aang overreacts, that is one thing she has learned about him.

"You see, when I got these-" he pointed towards the large arrow on his hand, "-we have to say the vows of a monk, and then we promise to never break them. I know of course, that a lot of the vows don't go for me, since I am the Avatar. I can never reach spiritual enlightenment, and probably will have to kill someone, and I'll have cause probably more fighting than would be necessary, and I'll probably have to lie a few times, and well, I'm still figuring out how this whole Avatar thing works, and I don't know if we are allowed to pursue female distractions, if we are, then I'm fine... But I would hate to start out this journey doing it all wrong." Aang ranted, but Katara stopped listening when he mentioned the pursuing of female distractions... Was that a discreet way of saying he liked her in more ways than a friend? She blushed slightly.

"Aang, I am sure the spirits and past Avatars will forgive you if anything goes wrong, and I am quite sure of it, Monk Gyatso will be proud of you no matter what you do. Calm down, your fine. You didn't do anything wrong, and you need to let it go. Besides, you are letting your worries distract you." Katara gave him a friendly shove.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Thanks." Aang gave her a smile, and kicked a away a pebble that was in front of him.

"So, Aang, tell me, why are you so strict with all your rules, vows, and things?" Katara at this moment, was quite sure that the Air Nomads probably had no crime in their temples.

"If airbenders weren't so strict with their beliefs, than, well... That is just a dangerous possibility."

Katara quirked a eyebrow at him.

"Sounds absurd, huh? You see, every living thing needs oxygen to survive, right? Well... As a airbender, you can control all forms of air, thus, giving us the control of oxygen. Katara, that gives me the power to control your breathing, the breathe of that deer-mooseli over there, and anything else that breathes. You know how easily I could just take away the air flow from your lungs? You would suffocate on the spot, just as easily as you can dehydrate my body. Now, can you imagine airbenders, roaming free around the world, without rules, without a spiritual connection, and without any sort of regret towards the smallest forms of life? It would be disastrous."

Ironically, Katara's breath hitched in her throat, as Aang explained the dark zone of his element. She never really thought of it like that before, and it made her glad that Aang didn't have the personality of the Fire Lord, or else, everyone would be doomed. She met Aang's stare, and it gave her reassurance that nothing like that would happen, just like how unlikely it would be if a small army of bloodbenders were to seek world domination.

"Your right Aang, I guess your vows and all that spiritual enlightenment you always talk about must be so important to your culture, and how important it must of been for the monk's to teach the young airbenders this. Did anyone ever rebel?" There had to be some people born with a rebelling nature, not everyone was born solely good. There were lots of criminals born into the world, and it wouldn't make much sense if everyone in the Air Nomads were peaceful... Every single soul...

Aang gave her a cheeky smile. "Your staring at one."

Katara's eyes widened, "You? You don't seem like the rebelling type."

"When I was younger, I was quite the character. I refused my lessons, I would ditch meditation, I often used my superior airbending against the older, and younger kids. I continually pranked the head monks, and I had a knack for throwing my fruit pies square on the head of any unfortunate soul... Although, Monk Gyatso taught me that one... It was my first airbending lesson. Gyatso was the only one who taught the first lesson in that fashion though..." Aang's eyes sparkled with old memories, his face lit up as his loving mentor popped up in his brain, and he smiled, 'cause that's what Monk Gyatso would want him to do. To smile.

Katara looked Aang over. _I guess he does get rebellious... _"I can't believe you did all those things, haha, I bet the monks, besides Monk Gyatso, weren't very pleased with you, huh?"

Aang gave her a pointed look. "Yeah, they didn't like how carelessly I was being raised. Well, careless is a bad word to use. Monk Gyatso let me be a kid, while the others put me in strict, hardcore training. '_It's the Avatar's duty to learn respect, diligence, and determination.'" _Aang recited in another voice. Katara smiled at him.

"So, Aang, if you were so rebellious, then how did you master everything so quickly?"

"Everything was to easy for me, so I got bored."

"I thought you said that they pushed you with hardcore training?"

"They did, but that was after I mastered airbending. When I got my tattoos, that was when I was told of my title. That was also when they taught me the dangerous forms of airbending, an extra level that only certain people can learn. Kind of like firebenders learning lightning. Only, they taught me how to remove the oxygen from someone's body, or from a room, or certain area. They also taught me how to control wind into making storms, only, just a wind storm. The Avatar is the only person who can make a full storm by using the elements air, water, and fire. I never learned that, since I didn't know the other elements then, and I guess I still don't, except for some of water, thanks to you."

"Hmm... Thats interesting. So you and I could probably make a pretty good storm, huh? I never thought of bending in that way. Must be fun." Katara thought out loud.

"It is, only hard to do." Aang looked up at the sky, the sun was nearing the mid way point of it's long journey across the large blue expanse of the sky. "It must be close to noon, I bet Sokka will be awake soon and wanting some food." Aang talked hesitantly, he loved talking to Katara, she was a great listener. Whenever he was with her, the burning ache in his heart from the death of his people, would burn less, and become more whole. Talking about his past helped him, and she was so understanding of everything. He really appreciated her.

"Yes, your right... To bad we don't have much left to eat. We need to fly out of here and find a town of some sort, Appa will be all rested up by now." She turned around, and began walking back towards camp. They didn't walk far from it, they most just dawdled around in circles.

"Hey, Katara, thank you." Aang said, his voice was sincere, and if Katara wasn't halfway blind to his affections towards her, she would of heard the love in his voice.

"For what?" She tried to think of what she did... All she did was listen to him, go on a walk with him.

"Thanks for everything."


	12. The Freedom Fighters

**Why, hello there! How are you on this fine evening? Well, I'm doing great, although, I am writing this at 9 am, on a cold, rainy morning. I'm sick, so that gave me a excuse to skip school today ;) No better way to spend a sick day than listening to my favorite songs while writing a new chapter for my story. I hope you enjoy this chapter! This is going to be a combination of the episodes about Jet and Haru, I've actually been planning this chapter ever since the beginning of this story. Although I already had this storyline written out, I'm still going to spot light PandaLilly22 for suggesting this chapter :) Also, Aang is going to act a little out of character in this chapter, and will probably be over reacting a lot, I did that on purpose. ;) I use way to many smiley faces, don't I? ANYWAY. On with the story! **

**Chapter 12.**

A small camp of Fire Nation soldiers were lazily sitting by their campfire, telling stories, picking at their food, and others were sleeping. They were located in a forest near a small Earth Kingdom village, that was just recently conquered, and turned into a Fire Nation colony. It was rather peaceful in the large forest, or it seemed to be. There was several reports about missing Fire Nation soldiers, ambushed by a group of rebellious teenagers. The teens were known as the Freedom Fighters, who were trying to rid the Fire Nation of their forest. Thus, the reason why this Fire Nation camp was set up, to track down the base camp of the Freedom Fighters, and to end them.

Unbeknownst to the soldiers, they were completely surrounded. Within the protection of the trees, the Freedom Fighters were hiding, watching them. Waiting for the right moment to strike. The Freedom Fighters were lead by two smart, cunning brothers. One of them was a earthbender, who had long hair and was attempting to grow a mustache. His name was Haru, and he was about 16 years old. The other brother, the one who created the Freedom Fighters, was Jet. He was 17 years old, a nonbender, but incredibly talented with hook swords. Not only was he good with weapons, but he was a expert in manipulation. He was often the mastermind behind most of their attacks. He was easily noticed with his signature long piece of grass hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

Alongside Jet and Haru, were Smellerbee, Longshot, Pipsqueak, and The Duke. Smellerbee was a short, young girl who was often mistaken as being a boy because of her short, wild hair, face paint, and boyish voice. Most who knew her, thought of her as a tomboy. She was athletic, and was great with hand to hand combat. Longshot was Smellerbee's companion. The two were very close, and some joked about them being a couple, which they could very easily be. Longshot had short black hair, lean body, and looked to be around 14. He was a expert in archery. His father was in the Yu Yan archers, and taught his son everything he knew. Only, his father was killed once the Yu Yan archers were taken under Fire Nation rule. Longshot never spoke, and if he did, it was short and blunt. Pipsqueak was a giant. He was heavily muscled and he was very intimidating, although, he was actually a nice person. He doesn't give out his age, so know one really knows how old he is. His best buddy is The Duke, a small, young boy who works by Pipsqueak's side. The Duke is great at sneaking in places because he is so small. These were the main Freedom Fighters.

"Jet, we've been here all morning! Why don't we just attack them now?" Smellerbee whispered, her patience wearing out.

"Just hold on a minute, we need a distra-" Jet stopped in the middle of the word, and he watched down below in disbelief.

"Uhh... If you let us pass, we promise to not hurt you!" A teenaged boy announced with bravado, he and two others just walked right into the Fire Nation camp.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" A dazzling girl whispered irritatedly. Jet smiled wantingly.

"We got Aang, don't we? We can take them easily..." Sokka looked defeated, he just dragged everyone to their doom.

The girl worriedly looked behind her, towards a tall, lean, teenaged boy that had his shirt pulled up awkwardly over his forehead. His hands were pulled behind him nervously, and, was that some kind of staff he was holding on to? _Maybe he is retarded?_ Jet thought with a smirk.

The girl glared towards Sokka, and got into a fighting stance. Sokka pulled out a machete, and the boy behind them stood still, looking unsure of what to do. Next thing Jet knew, a fire blast was sent towards the girl, but she blocked it easily by catching it in a ball of water. _She's a waterbender. _They will need help.

_"_Now!" Jet commanded, and his freedom fighters attacked.

Katara jumped in front of Aang, as the Fire Nation soldier aimed a fire blast at him. She knew Aang was defenseless since he couldn't give away his identity, meaning he would have to stand still and try to hide his arrows. Just as the blast was fired, a arrow flew out from the trees, hitting the soldier's helmet, knocking him out. Aang and Katara looked up at the trees. No one was there. Sokka was about the club another soldier's head, but the man fell dead before he could hit him. A result from another mysterious arrow. Sokka was puzzled.

Next thing the small trio knew, kids were coming out of the trees, most of them looked to be in their teens. They effortlessly took out the Fire Nation camp. Aang, Sokka, and Katara just stood there, dazed. Within minutes, the whole camp was wiped out.

"That was... AMAZING!" Sokka ranted excitedly, running up to one of the Freedom Fighters.

"Thanks, we've been waiting to ambush these guys all morning, we were just waiting for a distraction of some sort." Haru said, smiling softly, feeling proud. Katara's eye's glazed over at the sight of him. He was tall, dark, handsome, and very brave.

"I'm Jet, this is my brother Haru, and these are the Freedom Fighters. Haru and I are the leaders of the group, we are trying to rid this forest, and the town of the Fire Nation." Jet spoke up, introducing himself, Haru wasn't about to steal the waterbender's heart.

Katara looked at him, and he was equally attractive as Haru, only, he looked older. She smiled, and went up to him happily. "I'm Katara, and this is my brother Sokka. We are from the Southern Water Tribe." She said the words quickly, her eyes sparkling.

"I saw you waterbending, you look very talented." Jet said, sending his brother a quick glance as if saying, _she likes me more! _Haru rolled his eyes.

Aang growled to himself. Did Katara even remember he was here? She didn't even introduce him.

"So, would you like to see our hideout?" Jet invited, noting that Smellerbee and Pipsqueak had gotten all the important supplies from the camp.

"Yes!" She said to happily, and she mentally scolded herself for sounding so desperate.

"Uh, Katara, what about us?" Sokka said impatiently, he gave her a brotherly look, the protective one.

"Oh... Right. Would it be okay if they came to? I can't leave them." Katara asked, remembering her responsibility of teaching, and protecting Aang. _Aang! _She forgot about him! She looked at him tentatively, he was standing there awkwardly, his shirt pulled over his forehead, his hands hidden behind his back. He also looked annoyed, for some odd reason. She smiled, he looked so pathetic, he really needed to just buy a hat so he wouldn't have to use his robe. It revealed a lot of his chest, because his robes only covered one shoulder, and if it wasn't for the shall like thing he wore over his shoulders, the arrows on his arms would be highly noticeable. The shall they bought at a town they passed through, so if they came into a situation like this, would be easier to hide his arrows, although it looked ridiculous.

Jet saw that Katara was staring at the weird boy who still hadn't moved from his spot. He didn't even know who the guy was. "Of course, it would be great if they could join to." Then he leaned in closer to Katara and whispered, "Is he mentally disabled?" Katara's eyes widened, and she almost laughed.

"No! No, thats Aang." She looked over at the Monk, and gave him a approving nod. "He's the Avatar, I've been teaching him waterbending."

While Katara said this, Sokka immediately jumped at her, and pulled her off to the side. "Are you nuts! We don't know these guys, and you just go right ahead and tell them who Aang is? Katara, we got to be careful!" He whispered at her angrily.

Jet just smirked, _The Avatar? _Like that was possible. But he thought to soon. He looked at the guy again, and he shrugged the robe off his head, revealing a large blue arrow on his forehead, and he took off the cloth around his shoulders, making the arrows on his arms completely noticeable. Maybe this kid wasn't a fake.

"Come on Sokka, lets go, if Katara trusts him, then we can." Aang spoke, and walked towards Jet, with Katara close behind him. Sokka sent Jet a glare, but followed him anyway.

Jet and Haru lead the Avatar and his group towards their hideout. The rest of the Freedom Fighters left before them, and were most likely waiting for them now. Jet was distracted, that waterbender, Katara, she was beautiful. She seemed really nice, and if he wasn't mistaken, she had taken a quick liking to him. Although, he also noticed Haru seemed to like her to. _I'm the older brother, I get first pick._ Jet decided to himself, Haru will just have to live with the fact that Katara was not his.

The walk was awkward for Sokka, and infuriating for Aang. Katara was mindlessly flirting with Jet, while Jet sweet talked her back. Every now and then Haru would compliment her, and Katara would giggle and blush. Aang growled internally. Making Katara blush was _his_ job. Or at least, thats what Aang wanted it to be. He felt pretty worthless, walking along Sokka, glaring at the back of Jet's head. Katara so easily forgot about him, like he never existed, like all those moments she and him shared while out on the walks, and all the times they saved each others butt's while pretending to be each others girlfriend and boyfriend. Only, while Katara was faking, Aang wasn't acting his part. He wasn't a good actor, and Katara should of realized that, if she even remembered all his horrible attempts at trying to sound like someone he was not. Or how he always blew his cover, while being undercover.

The worst part was, Aang was actually beginning to think that Katara returned his feelings of wanting to be more than friends. The horrible stomach retching scene unfolding before him was a cold slap to the face. She was completely twitter-pated in mere seconds by some random stranger who knew how to sweet talk! It took Aang all that he had to not murder the guy in front of him, and maybe, Jet's brother to.

Aang froze. His blood chilled and goose bumps ran up his spine. Did he just think about _murder?_ That was when Aang knew he lost it. He completely forgot about his long lost heritage. His culture. His identity. All over _him. _Aang couldn't help but send another quick glare to the back of Jet's head. Then, he quickly took a deep breath and rid the sinful thoughts that clouded his mind. He calmed down a bit. If Katara wanted to be with Jet, then he wasn't going to stop her. But that doesn't mean he was going to stop loving her.

Aang froze again. _Love? _He sneered. He met Katara hardly a month ago, he couldn't love her yet.

He sighed once again. If Katara wanted this, if this made her happy, then he'll be happy. Long as Katara is happy. But. If that, that Jet made one wrong move toward her, he would regret it for the rest of his life. 'Cause if he did, he would meet the wrath of the Avatar.

Aang knew he was most likely overreacting, but he tended to do that quite a lot. No reasoning in ending that now.

While Aang was trying to sort out the whirlwind of thoughts going through his brain, they finished the journey to the Freedom Fighter's hideout.

"Here we are, at the infamous Freedom Fighter's hideout. Oh how much the Fire Nation wants to know where this place is." Haru announced, and soon as he spoke, a rope swung out of the trees, hanging from somewhere past all the branches and the fall colored leaves of the large tree.

"Here, Sokka, grab hold of this." Haru handed the rope to Sokka, and he took it, and before he could ask a question as to why, he was flying up through the air. The rope pulled him up with speed, and a painful unexpected jerk to his left shoulder. He grunted in pain, but let it go, not wanting to show a sign of weakness. Before he knew it, he was on a wooden plat form, way up on the top of the trees. He was surrounded by hundreds of little ropes, chutes, wooden tree houses, that all developed into one, extremely large tree house. Sokka was impressed.

The same rope swung down from the trees again once Sokka let go of it. This time Haru motioned for Aang to grab it, but Aang ignored him, stared at him for a brief second with a look of irritation, then twirled the wooden staff he had around his fingers. It popped open into a large orange glider, and in a split second, Aang was flying through the air up to the tree house. Haru stared in shock and looked over at Jet, who also seemed a bit unsettled with the sight of watching a human fly. Although, Katara looked like it was a completely normal occurrence.

"Here Katara, take my hand." Jet warmly invited as he took a hold of the rope, and used his other free arm to wrap around her waist, and he held her close to his body. The rope did not descend into the tree tops like it with Sokka, but it slowly came up, as if it was in slow motion. Katara blushed at the closeness of their bodies and her sapphire blue eyes gazed up into Jet's dark, nearly black eyes. They were almost startling at first, a stark contrast with the warm, stormy grey eyes she was used to looking into. Nonetheless, she decided to get used to this new pair of eyes, and really, she did not know why.

Haru came up right after them, but he seemed a little annoyed. _Jet always gets the girls. _Haru thought to himself boyishly.

"Wow!" Katara's voice held admiration, and bewilderment at the stunning tree house. (**A/N: Wow, that sounds gay, doesn't it?)**

"It took us a few years to establish a living up here, but once we made it, we never regretted it. The Fire Nation may know that we usually attack from the trees, but they don't know that we live up in the trees." Haru said proudly.

"Jet, you brought these guys to our hideout?" A boyish, yet slightly raspy voice asked, slightly irritated. It came from Smellerbee, and behind her, was The Duke, Pipsqueak, and Longshot. Aang, Katara, and Sokka realized they haven't been introduced to the rest of the Freedom Fighters yet.

"Yes, I did. Katara is a waterbender, and," Jet paused, his eyes shifted to the right, in the general direction of Aang. "He's the Avatar." He said it like he didn't mean it, probably because he didn't really believe Aang was the Avatar, despite the display of flying, and the blue tattoos. Aang was used to it. A lot of people doubted his title.

"Katara, this is Smellerbee, Longshot, The Duke, and Pipsqueak. We are the main Freedom Fighters." Jet introduced, he pointed at each person as he said their name.

Aang snorted. "Pipsqueak? Thats a weird name." Soon as he said it, the large giant walked towards him and stood over him menacingly.

"You think my name is weird?" He threatened, eyes narrowing. Aang stared at him for a few seconds.

"Yup!" Aang said it joyfully with a slight bit of laughter in his voice. He could really care less how big the guy before him was. Pipsqueak then burst out laughing and slapped Aang upside the head.

"I like you." He stated and turned to walk away.

Aang turned to Katara, but she was gone. So was Jet. They must of went off together while Aang was talking to Pipsqueak. With his fists clenched, he looked towards Sokka, a expression of hurt and betrayal. Sokka shrugged, not in a whatever manner, but more of a sad one.

"Sorry Aang. Think of it this way. Pretend Jet is a shiny new toy, and Katara is a little kid. Automatically, she will be drawn towards the shiny new toy, because the old one gets boring after a while." Sokka began to explain.

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better."

Sokka held up his hand, "Listen to me Aang, I wasn't finished. While she may like the new toy for a while, she is going to remember how much she loved the old toy. Eventually, when the shiny toy looses it's shininess, she'll go back to her old toy."

"Sokka I still don't really get it... But thanks." Aang walked off to go explore the dreaded treehouse.

It was several hours that passed before Aang saw Katara again. Several, agonizingly painful hours. She was beaming with joy, and immediately began to gush to Aang about Jet once they were alone.

"Oh! Aang! It's so amazing! There's these ropes all around here, and he can take his hook swords and swing across them! He says that they call it zip lining, and he did it with me, and wow! It was just like flying! Can you imagine that Aang? Flying through the air, zipping through the trees. Oh, Aang! Can you imagine such a thing?" Katara said breathlessly. She than began to explain it a bit further, but Aang cut her off.

"Katara." He spoke it slowly, and his voice was monotone. His expression blank. _Did she forget who she was talking to? _

Katara looked at him, a bit startled. She hadn't heard him talk like that before. Then it hit her, she was talking to Aang, Aang the airbender. "Sorry..." He rolled his eyes slightly, and gave her a crooked grin.

"Anyway, Jet explained to me how he made the Freedom Fighters, and he told me his story. He also told me a bit about the other Freedom Fighters. They are all very close you know. I can't help but feel bad for Jet though, he lost both his parents in a Fire Nation raid. Can you imagine loosing both of your parents? I understand you never knew your parents, but if you did, can you imagine such a loss?" She looked down at the ground, very thankful that her father was alive and well.

Aang stared at her again with a blank expression, but he didn't say anything. _Did she forget who she was talking to? Again? _Aang lost his whole nation, all he people, all his friends, all his culture, everything he knew. He lost his childhood. He sighed, and faked sympathy. "That must be horrible."

"Oh, Aang! I-"

"Katara, let's go find Appa, we kind of ditched him." Aang rudely interrupted, grabbed her hand gently, and started to walk briskly. He stopped when he realized Katara wasn't moving with him. She had her feet firmly planted in the ground, refusing to move.

"Aang, listen to me, Jet and I are going to go for a walk through the woods, and Jet wanted to leave you in charge of the fort with Haru while we are gone. We shouldn't be more than a hour. Jet really trusts you, and I knew you will do a good job watching over the place. Also, Smellerbee and Longshot got Appa a while ago, he's somewhere around here. Well, I need to go! See you later, alright?" Katara pulled her hand out of Aang's and skipped on her merry way down towards the rope that was the exit and entrance to the large treehouse.

Aang growled, his fists clenched, and a swift breeze quickly rushed around him. It lasted for a few seconds. Aang could of sworn smoke was coming out his ears. He turned and walked away, this was probably why the monks told him to not get pulled into womanly attractions. Never in a hundred years did he expect Katara to do this to him. He thought that he was actually getting through to her, he was planning on telling her he liked her today, if the right time came up. Guess that was just going to have to wait. He should be relieved though, at least, because of him being the Avatar, and there hurry to get to the North Pole, that means they couldn't stay here for very long. So hopefully they can leave soon. _What if she decides to stay here with Jet? _Aang clutched his staff, the thought of separating with Katara was unbearable. He trusted her the most, and Sokka and him didn't get along very well. He needed her to help keep balance to the group. _Thats ironic. I though I was the balance maker. _Aang smirked to himself.

It was several days now since Aang and the Water Tribe siblings been at the Freedom Fighter's hideout. Katara and Jet were going on walks daily. Katara was making Jet hats, and was even stitching together any rips in his clothes. There was no doubt anymore, they were a 'couple'. Maybe not a full blown serious couple, but the kind that know they like each other so they spend all kinds of time together. They weren't exactly boyfriend and girlfriend though. Aang continually tried to convince Katara that they had to leave soon, but she kept making up excuses as to why they should stay for another day. Both Sokka and Aang knew they had to leave, and were getting sick and tired of Katara's excuses.

Sokka was getting suspicious of Jet, he recently caught Jet holding a secret meeting at midnight, and their hushed whispers sounded rather unnerving. They were plotting something, and keeping it a secret from them. Sokka never did trust Jet, and when he did learn of the plan that Jet was plotting, he rushed to Aang immediately. If there was anyone who could save his sister now, it was him. Sokka shivered as he remembered the conversation.

_"You sure this will work?" _

_"Positive." _

_"What about that Aang, and her brother?" _

_"They won't know about it. Katara trusts me, she'll do anything I ask of her. She is a master waterbender, all I have to do is to convince her to fill up the reservoir with the underground water. Then we can blow up the dam, and rid the town of the Fire Nation." Jet spoke, smirking._

_"What about the rest of the townspeople? Won't they drown to?"_

_"We all have a part in the war, and sacrifices are necessary to win this. Once the water levels away, we can move into the town and make it our new hideout. Then we can finally live, with no worries about the Fire Nation." Jet answered._

_"Jet, how are sure that Katara is even going to stay here much longer? They can leave any minute now."_

_"They can't leave if their Bison falls ill..."_

_"Alright then, what if she refuses to help?"_

_"Then she'll regret ever saying no to me."_

That was when Sokka left, he couldn't stand to here anymore of this. Katara was being used, Jet was a monster.

"Aang!" Sokka's worried whisper, and violent shaking woke up the monk quickly.

"Whats wrong?" Aang said, fighting the grogginess out of his voice and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Jet, he-" and Sokka explained everything that he heard to Aang. "I want you to follow them on their walk tomorrow, please Aang, protect my sister."

Those words stabbed through Aang heart like a sharp icy blade. "I will never let _anything _happen to her, till as long as I live."

Sokka smiled, and placed a brotherly hand on Aang's bare shoulder. "I know." Those two words was all that Aang needed to hear, and he nodded his head.

Aang fell asleep, surprisingly right after Sokka left. He will need his sleep. Tomorrow, they were leaving, whether Katara wanted to or not.

In the morning, all was well. Or it seemed to be. It wasn't long after breakfast when Jet took Katara out for another walk through the woods. Sokka sent Aang a look, and Aang was on it. Soon as the two were out of sight, Aang popped open his glider and flew down to the ground below, landing softly and quietly thanks to airbending. He kept a eye on them, and it irritated him to find Jet whispering something into her ear, and she would giggle and blush. His arm was wrapped securely around her shoulders, as if he was trying to show that he could protect her.

Aang was growing bored, and jealous. Nothing happened yet, well, nothing important. Just as Aang was paying less attention to them, he heard a gasp from Katara. His eyes whipped up to her, to find that Jet had both hands grasping her shoulders, and was holding Katara out in front of him.

"Jet, I don't know if I can do that..." She whispered kindly, but unsure.

"Katara, trust me, you can do this. You are a master waterbender, are you not?" He asked her, smiling his 'charming' smile. Aang shuddered.

"Yes, I am, but, filling up a whole reservoir to the brim with underground water? Thats a lot of work, and I don't know if I can do it alone. I could do it with help, though. Aang is very talented with waterbending." Katara stated, looking into Jet's dark eyes.

"Katara, we don't need Aang's help." Jet spit back, bitterly. It made Katara wince at Jet's sudden harshness. Jet realized his mistake, and his face softened. "Sorry Katara," he muttered, but to Aang, he didn't sound sorry.

"It's alright. I'm sorry Jet, but I don't think I can do it." Katara replied, becoming slightly stubborn with her decision.

Katara looked at Jet, he was acting really persistent about this. It wasn't even that important... right? Katara sighed, Jet was going to try to convince her again.

"Katara, if anyone can do it, it is you." He said softly, and leaned in towards her. Katara melted into his hands. _Was he going to kiss her? _ Her thoughts whirled around and he leaned in a bit more, seeing that she wasn't refusing him. Soon, his lips hovered over hers, and Katara closed her eyes. Next thing she knew, Jet's lips were on her own. Katara sighed into the kiss, but didn't deepen it. Jet tasted like wild berries and freedom. The kiss lasted not very long, it was very simple, and sweet. Katara smiled at Jet. Only, she was slightly disappointed. Wasn't she supposed to feel glued to the ground? There was no electricity in the kiss. Wasn't she supposed to feel a little more than just a pair of lips on her own? She let the disappointment go. That probably was just a myth.

It was her first actual kiss. Well, technically it wasn't, her first kiss was when she was six, a few months before the Fire Nation took her mother. She and the other little girls were playing a game, the one where the girls chased the boys and tried to kiss them. Whoever kissed the most boys won. Katara remembered feeling very frustrated because the game was near a close, and she hadn't kissed one boy. They were all to fast. She was at a chase with this one boy, and she grew very upset once she realized that she wouldn't be able to reach him. So she stomped her foot on the ground in irritation, and to her surprise, the hard pact snow that the boy was running on suddenly became soft mush, and he tripped and fell. Katara quickly got to him, and pecked his lips quickly. It wasn't much different than kissing her parents really. It was one of her best memories because it was the day she learned she could waterbend.

Aang saw everything. A small tear rolled down his face, and he wiped it off stubbornly. He was not going to cry. He kept repeating that over and over in his mind.

"That was wonderful Jet, I think I can fill up the reservoir." She nervously twirled her hair around her finger. "Lead the way."

Jet smiled. _She's right where I want her. Least I won't have to poison the Bison now that she cooperated. _He lead her to the reservoir, and, disappearing deeper into the woods.

Aang let them go, Katara kissed Jet. Jet just manipulated her. He sighed and returned to the hideout. They were going to leave soon as Katara came back, and if she didn't want to go, she could stay here for all Aang cared.

"Aang! Your back! Did anything happen? She's alright, isn't she?" Sokka asked quickly, soon as he got Aang alone.

"Yeah, she's great Sokka. She and her boyfriend Jet are going to full up the reservoir. I'm leaving soon as they come back. You can come with me, but I don't think Katara will come. I don't know if you would want to leave her though. I had enough of this place." Aang sighed. "Perhaps it would be better if I did this on my own." He muttered.

"Aang, don't think like that. What happened? You look devastated." Sokka spoke to Aang, forcing the airbender to look at him. The tear that was on his cheek was unmissable.

"He had his filthy lips on hers. They kissed. He is manipulating her through kisses." Aang growled, and looked down at the ground. _If she is happy. I am happy. _ Aang repeated to himself.

"I'm sorry Aang. Leaving is the right thing to do, and I'm coming with you, and so is Katara." Sokka stated determinedly.

Katara and Jet were gone for another hour, and it was to Sokka's relief when Katara came back, looking unharmed. At the same time, he was incredibly worried. If she filled up the dam, then that means a whole town of people will be destroyed today. Soon as Jet left Katara, Sokka snatched her up quickly.

"Your a idiot Katara, a idiot." He said firmly, forcefully grabbing her hand, and leading her away to a more private area.

"What, no, 'hello Katara! I haven't seen you in a while, how are you?'" Katara said irritatedly.

"You filled up the reservoir, didn't you?" Sokka accused.

"What do you know about-"

"Just answer me. Did you fill up the reservoir?"

"Yes... I did."

"Katara! You idiot!" Sokka growled.

"Stop calling me that!" Katara yanked her hand away from him.

"Katara, you don't understand. Jet tricked you. They are going to blow up the dam!" Sokka told her urgently.

"Sokka, your just making up things. Jet wouldn't do that!" Katara denied, she stared at her brother with betrayal. "If they blew up the dam, then the whole town would be destroyed."

"Exactly! I heard them Katara, Jet said it! He is going to destroy the town so no more Fire Nation will be in his forest!"

"Sokka, Jet wouldn-"

"I got the town evacuated Sokka, everyone is safe. Now we need to leave, now." Aang interrupted, landing out of the tree tops, and he closed up his glider.

Katara growled at her traitorous brother, and friend. "You guys sicken me! Jet is NOT going to BLOW UP the dam!" She seethed.

"Katara, we just need to go, before Jet figures out what I did!" Sokka was already gone, to get Appa, leaving Aang to argue with Katara.

"You know what Aang, I think you are just jealous." Katara accused, looking at Aang with a slight glare.

"Me, Jealous, of him?" Aang squeaked. He would never be jealous of Jet. Jet was a jerk who got what he wanted by manipulating innocent people.

"Yes! You've been acting like a jerk ever since we got here!"

"I was being a jerk? If anyone is being a jerk, you are, right now!" Aang snapped sharply, but he regretted it soon as he said it. A look of pain flashed in Katara's eyes.

"Who's the jerk now?" She looked away, _Aang just called me a jerk. _

_"_Katara, I didn't mean that-"

"Of course you didn't," Katara answered sarcastically.

"Let's just leave. Come on, we need to get to the North Pole." Aang tried to reason with her.

"No, I am not leaving. I am not going to the North Pole with you. I am staying _here._" Katara replied stubbornly, and pointed her finger into Aang's chest. "I am tired of being pushed around by you!"

"I've never pushed you around once! I've been nice to you ever since we've met!" He eyed her finger that was jabbed in his chest. He grabbed her wrist and pushed it off. "Katara, be reasonable."

"Be reasonable? You want me to be _reasonable?" _Katara snorted.

"Yes! I do. Just listen to me. Jet isn't who you think he is, now please, can we go?"

"No, I don't go with liars."

"I'm not lying!"

"Jet never lied to me, Aang. Jet loves me. He won't hurt me, and he protects me from people like you!"

"Katara, he's manipulating you! Why won't you believe me? You've only known him for a few days! Yet you are already using the word love. What do you know about love Katara? What does _he_ know about _love?_" Aang narrowed his eyes.

"He know's a hell of a lot more than you do about love. You know _nothing _about love." Katara words were like knives.

Aang clenched his hands into fists again. She was wrong. He knew a lot about love, and he learned it all from her. He loved her, and she was to blind and stupid to see it.

Katara was satisfied that her words got through to him. She wheeled around, and was going to go find Jet. Someone her understood her.

"Dammit, Katara!" Aang growled, his hand reached out in lightning speed, grabbed her shoulder, and spun her around so she was facing him. Katara was slightly frightened, she had never seen such a expression on Aang's face before. She struggled against his chest, and before she could demand him to let her go, her body froze.

A strong electric current passed through her, and her feet seemed glued to the ground. She felt as if she had been taken to another world, as if she was flying through space. Her senses were filled with the sweet taste of a fresh breeze on a warm spring day and sweet moon-peaches. Before her brain was completely shut off, before she completely gave into the sensation, she realized Aang's warm lips were on her own.


	13. Sweet Cheeks

**Hey, what's up? Bet you didn't expect me to update so soon, but this story has been on my mind a lot lately. Besides, I bet you guys want to here what's next... Right? Haha. Be warned, Katara goes through rapid mood swings... So with that in mind, read on! :)**

**Chapter. 13 **

Sokka is a Water Tribe Warrior. Or, at least, he almost was. Sokka is the heir to being Chief in the Southern Water Tribe. Sokka is the meat and sarcasm guy. Sokka is the boomerang guy. Sokka is also Katara's brother.

They've been flying for hours, and Appa was starting to tire. Usually Aang was the first to predict it, since as a airbender, he could easily detect the slowing speeds in the winds. Only, Aang seemed to ignore it. Actually, Aang wasn't really paying attention, and he seemed to be mumbling a lot. Sokka also noticed his sister. She was the bright and hopeful one, and she usually spiced up their flights by making a argue of some sort. Not this time. She sat in the back of the saddle, knees pulled tightly to her chest, and she stared off to the distance, occasionally her eyes would drift to Aang. Her reaction when she looked at Aang confused Sokka even more. Usually, she would smile and maybe blush a little. Oh no, not now. Her eyes would drift toward the Monk's back and her eyebrows would furrow down, and a scowl would be planted on her face. Only, Sokka also noticed a very strong blush as well.

Sokka really did not know what Aang did to get Katara to come. The two hardly spoke since they got on the bison. One thing Sokka remembered, was when a loud explosion echoed through the forest, and from their viewpoint in the sky, it was unmistakable. Jet blew up the dam.

Katara stiffened. She had never felt so betrayed before. Jet played her, and she was so deep in his charm, that she didn't realize his dark twisted games going on around her. She growled to herself. She had been cursing Jet's name ever since the dam blew up, and, she was embarrassed. Her brother, and... _Aang_ tried to tell her, they knew what was happening. _Why didn't she listen to them? _Katara sighed. So much was going on in her mind, she was so conflicted.

Katara pulled at her hair desperately as the same tingling feeling came to her lips the second she thought of Aang's kiss. Right after it, she was shocked and in a daze, and wouldn't move. Then Aang shocked her again. He swung his arm around her, and in a split second she was up and over his shoulder, her feet swung helplessly in front of him, and her head dangled over his back. His arm was tightly wrapped around her, and she couldn't get away.

_"Put me down!" Katara threatened, mind still spinning._

_"Never." His reply was stubborn._

_"Aang!" She whined, but growled at the end to keep up her dignity. _

_"I'm not risking you running off, I don't trust your feet."_

_"So your blaming my feet?"_

_"No. Stop struggling, you want me to drop you?" _

_"Yes, I do."_

_"Really? You would be okay if I just dropped you? You might land on that pretty head of yours." Aang smirked, although, she couldn't see it._

_"You wouldn't dare."_

_"Watch me." _

_Next thing she knew she was flying through the air, and she squealed from the rush of sailing through the air. Only, she didn't hit the ground. Aang swung her up into Appa's saddle. She looked to give Aang a glare, but he already had a knowing smirk. _

_"What would you know, Appa seemed to catch you!" He faked surprise._

Katara heavily sighed. That was the last time Aang talked to her. She looked up at the back of that pesky Airbender once more. Soon as she made eye contact to the back of his bald head, she blushed and looked away quickly. Every time she looked at him, memories from his kiss flooded back to her. Never before did she think that she would even think that. Sure the two teased each other unmercifully at time, and he always was staring rather intently at her whenever they waterbended, but a kiss? From Aang? As crazy as it sounds, it was the most amazing kiss of her life.

Jet's kiss was dull and boring compared to Aang's, in fact, there was no comparison. When Katara kissed Jet, she figured that the whole electric shock, feet glued to the ground, heart stammering thing was a myth. Aang proved her wrong. Not only that, but Aang was a hell of a good kisser. Here she was, hours after, and she still felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her heart was racing, and she felt hot, very hot. Her palms were sweaty, and her mind was still in a frantic race. She growled. She needed water, she needed food. She could still taste Aang on her lips, and well, maybe she didn't want to wash that away. He did taste amazing, and she was trying her absolute hardest to not march over to him right then and taste him again.

_Aang, your driving crazy._

Ironically, Aang was thinking the same thing.

He acted on impulse. His heart ached for her, and when she walked away from him, his heart just tore a bit more with each step. He did the only thing he could do. He kissed her. _I, I kissed Katara. _That was something Aang had been wanting ever since he met her, only, he envisioned their first kiss to happen under different circumstances. He sighed, it was still worth it. Just, she probably hated him, and that's just what made him act the way he did when he picked her up and walked towards Appa. His feelings towards her were opened up, she knew now. Why continue to hide them then?

He needed to clear his mind. Appa fell a few feet in the air. _Nevermind. We need to land. _

"We are landing?" Sokka asked, he was wondering how long it would take for Aang to listen to his Bison's tired needs. Sokka received no answer, just a shrug from Aang's unclothed shoulder.

"Okay, then. Katara do we have enough food to make dinner?"

No answer.

"Um, Aang, is there a town nearby?"

No answer.

"ENOUGH!" Sokka growled. "You guys are acting immature. Quit giving me, and each other the silence treatment! We are a team here. What happened between you guys that made the air between you this thick?"

No _freaking _answer.

"Yo, Magic Spirit Boy, I'm talking to you." Sokka would of thrown a pebble at Aang's back if he had one.

Aang sighed and looked over at Sokka.

"That's better. See, acknowledging people isn't that hard, is it?" Sokka smiled, glad his amazing people skills were coming to use.

Aang looked away.

"Ugh! You guys are driving me crazy." Sokka pulled at his hair rather furiously.

No answer. Sokka wasn't going to bother with talking again.

"Feelings mutual then." Aang stated, unmoving. Sokka glared.

The group was back into silence again.

Few minutes later, Appa landed.

Sokka was the first to jump off the Bison, he stretched and bit and then declared that he was going off to search for food.

Aang and Katara were still sitting awkwardly in the saddle.

Finally, Aang stood up and jumped off Appa, but Katara remained unmoving.

"Hey, Sweet Cheeks, you coming down?" Aang called up to her, using his nickname that he gave her.

Katara froze slightly, he hadn't called her by her nickname since, well, since he came up with it actually...

"You know, this saddle if going to come off of the Bison with you in it or not."

She didn't respond.

"Sweet Cheeks, you got till three."

Was Aang seriously going to do this to her?

"1."

Oh, he so deserved a water whip to the head right now.

"2."

She sighed and got up. "Alright, I'm coming down."

"3."

She screamed as the saddle was lifted up into the air and dropped to the ground.

"What the hell was that for!" She yelled, wobbling to her feet. "I said I was coming down!"

"I know. I guess the thought of sweeping you off your feet just sounded more intriguing." Aang said nonchalantly.

"Also, don't call me Sweet Cheeks. You don't deserve to call me by a nickname."

"Sure thing. So _Katara, _come, your going to town with me." He made sure to put extra emphasis on her name.

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"It would be rather rude of me to leave a beautiful young lady, alone out here, wouldn't it?"

"You don't have a right to call me beautiful."

"Don't I?" Aang chuckled lightly. This was fun.

"Ugh! You are so infuriating!" Katara groaned and waved her arms in frustration. "When did you become such a jerk?"

"That's a good question."

"Answer it." Katara threatened.

"I don't feel like it."

"Aang, I'm this close from freezing your head in a block of ice." She glared at him darkly.

"Woah there hun, don't make me kiss you again. Seems to be the only way to get you listen."

Katara looked away, deep down, she wanted another kiss.

"Let's just go to town okay?"

Katara looked at him a little confused. His change in demeanor was a little odd. _Seems like the kiss effected him like it did me. _ She thought airily.

"Fine. As long as you promise to quit being a jerk."

"No promises there," Aang chuckled as he began his walk to the small village that you could barely see in the distance.

The two walked the rest of the way in silence.

When they did reach the town, they weren't surprised to see Sokka there, talking to a meat merchant. Aang grabbed Sokka, and pulled him in towards Katara.

"Hey! I was haggling for a large stake, he was starting to give in!" Sokka whined.

"No one cares, Sokka." Aang replied.

"Hey! You are finally speaking."

Aang rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so before we buy anything, how much money do we have?"

Sokka dug around his pockets, "Got 4 copper pieces and a few silver."

"We need to give food the most importance... So I'll leave Sokka in charge of that, and make sure you buy plenty of fruit!" Aang called as Sokka took off towards the meat merchant again.

"What should we do?" Aang asked, looking around the village.

"Ohh!" Katara's eyes widened and she ran towards a homely looking building. Aang followed her.

"I'm getting my future told." She told Aang, looking at the sign saying, _'Free'._

Aang sighed, "Sure, let's go darling." She gave him a dark glare and Aang staggered a few steps back.

Soon as they walked in to the Fortune Teller's house, they were met by a assistant.

"Hello, I'm Meng, and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant." The girl looked to be around Aang's age, her hair was wildly curly, and it stuck nearly straight up. Aang sighed, and took a seat on a pillow that was on the floor, he kept a distance from Katara though.

"Who might you be?" Meng stood in front of Aang, her eyes sparkling with a newborn crush. Aang gulped and looked over at Katara, asking for some help from this girl that stood way to close. Katara just smirked and looked away.

"Umm, I'm Aang..." Aang rubbed the back of his neck nervously as the girl leaned in more, completely bursting into his personal space.

"Wow! That rhymes with Meng!" She happily concluded and spun around and ran off to who knows where.

"Thanks for the help, _Katara." _Aang hissed.

"My pleasure, _Avatar." _Katara sent him a knowing look, knowing how much the guy resented being called the Avatar by her.

"Ouch."

"You deserved it."

Before Aang could respond, a new warm welcoming voice spoke up. "Alright, who's next?" The woman was older, had grey hair that sat neatly on her head, and she smiled at the young bickering teens. Katara's eyes lightened up.

"Ohh! Me, please." The woman nodded and Katara went off on her merry way down the hall with the fortune teller.

Aang sighed, and then Meng came out. _This was going to be a long wait. _He concluded when Meng was blushing like a fool as she approached him with a tray of bean curd puffs.

Meanwhile, Katara sat down in Aunt Wu's fortune telling room.

"Now, young one, what is your name?"

"I'm Katara from the Southern Water Tribe."

"You are a ways from home, aren't you?" Aunt Wu smiled. "Now tell me, who is that handsome young man you were speaking with?"

Katara blushed and then it quickly turned to a glare. "You mean Aang?"

"Yes, Aang." Aunt Wu smiled, nodding Katara on.

"Well, he is a jerk." Katara replied hastily.

"Oh? He looked very kind in there."

"Wha-? We were arguing..." Katara raised a eyebrow.

"I'm a fortune teller dear, now, what do you want to here about?" Aunt Wu's eyes twinkled.

"Who am I going to marry?" Katara blurted, suddenly forgetting her current worries.

"Ah, you seemed like the romance type." Then Aunt Wu began to do her fortune telling, and Katara closed her eyes, taking everything in.

"I can see you are going to have a very intense romance, with a lot ups and downs. Oh my, how eventful." Aunt Wu said, and continued on. "Oh my! You are going to marry a very _powerful _bender." Aunt Wu replied with astonishment.

"Really! Is he tall? Is he handsome?" Katara gushed out.

"Why yes, he became very tall, however, when you met him, he was just barely taller than you. Oh, my dear, he is stunningly handsome." Aunt chuckled, adding some exaggerations to make the girl more excited.

"Do we have any children?"

Aunt Wu frowned. Katara got worried.

"What? Do you see anything bad?"

"Oh, no! I'm just imaging how busy your going to be!" Aunt Wu chuckled.

"Why?" Katara quirked a eyebrow.

"You are going to have seven children my dear."

Katara's jaw dropped. "Seven? What am I trying to do? Repopulate a lost race?" Katara joked and laughed at herself.

Aunt Wu frowned.

"What? Something wrong?"

"No, not really, just, well, I've never seen anything like it! I'm shocked! You, my dear, are going to have two children that can waterbend-"

Katara cut Aunt Wu off, "I'm going to have seven freaking children, and only two of them will be benders?"

"No, let me finish. This is remarkable! You are going to have five a_irbending _children. I don't even know how that is possible!" Aunt Wu was smiling wide at the news of more airbenders in the world, but she was puzzled on how Katara would have them... Weren't airbenders extinct?

Katara was frozen to her seat. Her head spun, and she could of sworn her heart stopped. There was only one person in the world that could produce airbenders. _Aang._

_"_Honey, you look worried, I know, it is a lot to take in. If this makes you more at ease, the man you marry is a amazing husband, and a great father, and you happen to be a amazing mother. Your children are very successful in life."

"Thanks... For the reading.." Katara smiled and bowed to the older woman. "I'll send in... my _friend_ on my way out." Katara then shut the door behind her, and walked numbly towards the young airbender.

"Hey, you learn anything interesting?" He gave her a crooked grin. Her face hardened.

"Nothing that'll interest you... Oh, and she's waiting for you." With that said, Katara rushed out of the building.

Aang sighed, and got up, he decided to hurry and meet Aunt Wu before Meng came back. That girl was creepy. He walked down the narrow, bright hallway towards the room that Aunt Wu sat in, and he took a deep breath before pulling aside the wooden door.

"Hello, and what might your name be?" Aunt Wu asked while she motioned for him to take a seat across from her.

"I'm Aang, and it's nice to meet you Aunt Wu." Aang bowed his head politely while he took a seat.

"You are very kind. Now, what is it that you want to hear about?" Aunt Wu looked him over. He was pale, and he was tall, to a certain extent. He looked like he had a few more growing years ahead of him. He was thin, and had some good muscles on him, and the strangest thing about him was the light blue tattoos all over his body. She figured he would probably want to know about the war or something of the sort.

"Umm.. Well,-" he twiddled his fingers shyly. "Do you see any love in my future?" He gazed up at her with hopeful grey eyes.

The question took Aunt Wu by surprise, but she smiled and nodded anyway. "You have anyone on your mind?" Aang blushed, and Aunt Wu took that as a yes.

"Here, take a bone, and throw it into the fire. The heat makes the bone crack, and I'll read the cracks to tell you your future." Aunt Wu put a bowl full of bones in front of him. Aang cringed away from the dead animal remains, and gingerly picked out a bone and threw it onto the fire. Aang waited impatiently for something to happen, but nothing did.

As Aang started to get bored watching the bone just sit there and do nothing, Aunt Wu gasped and her eyes widened in horror as bone finally did start to crack. Aang cringed, it was a large crack straight down the middle of the bone. Then the bone seemed to vibrate a bit, and it exploded with a loud bang. Pieces and fragments of bone flew around the room. Aang looked perplexed.

"Care to explain...?"

"Oh my! This is... this is, amazing. You will be involved in a great battle, a battle with the forces of the good, and the evil, a-" Aang cut of the woman's exciting rant.

"A battle that determines the fate of the world?" He finished for her dully. Aunt Wu looked at him with surprise, he wasn't responding like she thought he would.

"You don't seem... surprised?"

"Hello! I'm the Avatar!" Aang pointed to the large arrow on his forehead. "I already knew all this stuff. I just want to know about my love life." Aang sighed and fell over backwards.

Aunt Wu looked at him with knew eyes. _So this is the great man who is to save the world. _She smiled at him warmly. "You are the last airbender, aren't you?" She said it softly, and kindly. Aang poked his head up from his lying down position.

"Yea, I am."

Aunt Wu gave him a knowing smile, thoughts of Katara and her five airbending children popped into her head. "Don't worry, you have a very thrilling romance ahead of you."

A big goofy grin covered his whole face. "Really? Thanks Aunt Wu!" And then he jumped up, gave her a hug and ran out of the room on a air scooter.

The fortune teller smiled, this is a day she'll never forget. The day she told the Avatar and his future wife to be their futures. She loved her job.

Katara walked aimlessly through town. Here she was trying to get over Aang's kiss, and now she just learned he is going to be the father of her children! She didn't want that... _Or do you? _ Her mind shot back at her. She growled. She remembered her mom telling her one day that destiny always changes, and that if Katara stayed true to her heart, she could make her own future. _Thanks mom. _ Katara stomped her foot in the ground. If she had a say in her own future, then she was going to say it. _I am not going to marry the guy who stole a kiss from me, picked me up as his prisoner, threatened to drop me on my face and pick me up with his airbending and drop me off his bison. Who cares if he happens to have the most expressive grey eyes, or those muscles... or how sweet he can be... and how protective he is of me, and how handsome- _ Katara almost screamed.

"You happy now Aang? Not only did you corrupt me physically, but now you managed to corrupt my mentally." Katara growled to the open air in front of her. She was _not _going to have his children. Oh, no, she will make sure of that. That monk didn't deserve her love. No sir, Katara is going to shape her own future from now on. A future with a man who isn't Aang. Yup, thats her, Katara, married to the man who isn't Aang. She liked the sound of that.

_No, you want him._

_"_Shut up." Katara growled.

"But I didn't say anything." Oh no. It was that dreaded voice.

Katara spun around, marched right up to him in a fury. Her eyes glistened with revenge. Next thing Aang knew, her nimble fingers came together and, _WHACK! _

_"_K-Katara, did you just _slap _me?" Aang's left cheek turned red from the sting of her slap. Aang was bewildered, and for almost a second, Katara could see the look of betrayal seep into his grey eyes.

"Yes! Yes I did! Thats for kissing me! And NO! I will NOT have your babies! So quite bothering me, Air Boy!" Katara ranted, her eyes narrowing with each insult.

"Katara, I understand you slapping me for kissing you, but I never asked you to have my children... Aren't we a little young for that?" Aang raised a eyebrow at her, was she okay? She looked like she had gone mad.

"Wha-? Oh... Your right.. you never asked me that... But your still a jerk for stealing a kiss from me." She slapped his shoulder. Aang sighed and looked at the reddening handprint on his right shoulder.

"Katara,-"

"No, Aang, listen to me! I-"

"Katara, I-"

"Let me finish my rant!"

"No, Katara what I am trying to-"

"Ugh! You are so annoying! You can't just march right up to me, give me a kiss and expect it to all get better, seriously! You are actin-"

"Katara! I'm sorry!" Aang yelled, cutting her off, waving his hands up and down to gain her attention.

"Your sorry?" She faltered. He wasn't supposed to apologize.

"I am sorry for kissing you, I didn't know that it was such a horrible thing to be cursed by my kiss. But please, don't let this come between us, can we at least stay friends? I don't think I can handle loosing you again." Aang looked at her, he was being sincere. "I understand, I know, I'm a terrible kisser, probably nothing compared to Jet, but why are you so mad about it?"

Katara looked at him, and she sighed. "Aang this isn't about you being a bad kisser."

"It isn't? But you-"

"No, actually, Jet's kiss was amazing. It kind of felt like freedom, you know?" She smiled wearily.

"This isn't helping." Aang replied flatly.

"Let me finish. At the same time, Jet's kiss didn't have anything to it. There was no spark. Now, when you kissed me, I felt like I was shot by lightning, Aang, you sent my flying. You took my breath away. Now that, was a good kiss. No, that was the best kiss I'd ever had. It was even greater knowing that it came from you." Katara looked at him, she blushed slightly.

Aang was frozen with shock. "Really? But, why are you so upset with me?" _Girls are crazy_ Aang's mind effortlessly replied to him.

"Because, I don't understand."

"Understand what Katara?"

"I just don't understand my feelings for you. I'm confused." Katara watched his face go to a unreadable expression.

"Would it help you decide if you knew how I felt about you?" Aang spoke quietly, but deliberately. His heart raced, was he really going to tell her in words how he felt? Right now?

Katara looked up at him, "You have feelings for me?" She half squeaked.

"I kissed you, didn't I?" Aang smiled, and took her hand. "Katara, I've had this mind blowing crush on you since I first saw you. Now I am just plain crazy over you. My feelings for you are deep, very deep, and I, well, it broke me to see you with Jet. That's why I acted so rash... I'm sorry, but if it helps, I think I am falling in love with you." Aang looked at the ground, and he mumbled the last part. Katara's heart raced. _Aang is falling in love with me? _

_"_Katara, I understand if you don't feel the same way, again, I'm sorry, really I am, if I ruined our friendship." Aang looked sad, defeated almost.

Katara smirked, she grabbed his shoulders firmly, and looked in in the eye, when she saw that he refused to look at her, she took her hand and lifted his chin up so he would look her in the eyes.

Aang couldn't think, what was Katara doing? She looked beautiful, even though her hair was a mess from her ranting and pulling at it from earlier. The next thing Katara said, shocked Aang to his core.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

That's just what he did. He grinned ear to ear, placed his hands on his waist and picked her up off the ground, holding her close. She gave him a questioning look.

"If I'm going to kiss you, I'm going to do it right." Soon she they she was spun in a circle, and Aang kissed her, he kissed her with all the passion he had pent up for her since he met her, and she gave him equal amounts back. By now, Aang set her on the ground, since he was done happily twirling her into his kiss. He finally released her lips, and they were both beaming at each other.

"Now that was a real kiss." Katara blushed, "Well done, _Avatar." _She teased.

Aang laughed, "I've been waiting forever for that." He paused, "Does this mean, we are a couple now?"

"Right you are," She hugged him happily. Aang kissed her again, a light and airy kiss, and as he broke off the kiss, he took a step back, only to trip over a rock. Soon he and Katara fell over backwards.

"Great, my boyfriend is a clutz," Katara joked, and Aang flipped them over so he was on top of her.

"Oh, am I now?" He had hovered over her, "I am not a clutz, I think you are. You pushed me in the the rock." Aang blamed teasingly. The happy air around them quickly vanished with someone cleared their throat. Aang and Katara looked up startled. There stood a very irritated, and grossed out Sokka.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Sokka squeaked out his face turning beat red from overprotective anger. Katara rolled her eyes.

"Relax Sokka, I'm just kissing my boyfriend." Without another word, she gave Aang a quick chaste kiss, and there was a thud as Sokka's limp body fell to the ground.

"Shouldn't we help him? He just fainted." Aang sat up, looking at Sokka a little worried.

"Nah, he'll live."


	14. The Northern Air Temple

**Hello! Been awhile hasn't it? Well, just so you all know, I am not dead yet :D Nor is this story, nor will it ever be. Also, we are nearing the home stretch for the first part of my story. Almost in the second part where things will heat up and action will start to steadily increase. Anyway, here we go! (I'm calling the different seasons 'parts', because it just makes for sense for a story, that and, my story is no where near the length of a book.)**

**Chapter 14.**

* * *

><p><em>Where did they go?<em> Katara thought to herself, becoming more frustrated by the second. They were supposed to leave over an hour ago. But of course, Sokka mysteriously disappeared while stocking up on food and other supplies for their journey. She hadn't even seen Aang that morning. He just left her a note saying he would be back soon. "It's been hours Aang. Where are you?" Katara said out loud, knowing no one would answer considering no one was there. She sighed. _Now I'll have to spend the rest of the afternoon searching for my annoying brother and my sneaky boyfriend. _Her heart fluttered. Aang was her boyfriend. It just seemed to good to be true. The waterbender smiled to herself, this was the fifth time that day she had caught her mind wandering over to the Avatar.

Katara wasn't paying attention to where she was going now, as she kept thinking about yesterday's events. From Aang being a complete jerk to hide his hurt feelings, to turning into the charming boy he usually is. She didn't even notice that she was walking towards a tree. It wasn't until a yellow clothed figure suddenly dropped down in front of her. Katara gasped and nearly jumped back in surprise. There before her was her long lost boyfriend.

"Aang!" She breathed out, eyes twinkling. Aang grinned and held out a rare, beautiful Panda Lily. The girl smiled brightly as she took the flower from his hand and admired the delicate pedals that formed the flower. She placed both her hands on Aang's cheeks, looking into his stormy grey eyes, and gave him a soft, tender kiss. Several surrounding townspeople stopped to smile at the young couple. Aang was hanging upside down on a barren limb in the tree, his legs hooked over the branch so he wouldn't fall. In front of him was the beautiful waterbender holding the Panda Lilly he had just presented to her.

"Good morning!" He chirped happily. Only to be playfully smacked on the shoulder by Katara.

"The morning ended hours ago, you could of at least told me where you were going." Katara stepped back to allow Aang some space so he could unhook his legs from the tree branch.

"Then that would of ruined the surprise!" Aang replied, taking in a deep breath. In one swift move he pulled his upper body up, his muscles popped out as he used them. He swung himself up and over his legs, doing a flip and landing gracefully on the ground. He lifted his arm up above his head, creating a circling gesture with his wrist, commanding the air to retrieve his staff from the branches in the tree. Katara admired his lithe, muscular body, knowing that most men would not of been able to gracefully complete what Aang just did.

"It's beautiful," Katara looked over the perfect little flower that Aang had given her.

"Thanks, I was hoping you would like it." Aang rubbed the back of his neck bashfully as he looked away, "I'm glad you aren't allergic to flowers then... I kept thinking about that. Never asked you about it. Would of been just my luck to have you get some kind of heart attack or something."

Katara giggled. "Aang, you are really sweet." She hugged him, then took his hand and pulled him through the streets in the town. "Come on, we need to find Sokka. We should of left hours ago. I just looked at a map, turns out we aren't that far from the North Pole." She informed him, her eyes sorting out the people they passed, trying to find the similar blue eyes and blue clothing of her brother. Finally, they did spot him. Sokka was in a argument with some guy, trying to explain his science and reason. It didn't take long to get Sokka and all the numerous amounts of food he had bought to load up onto Appa.

* * *

><p>Hour after hour, after hour slowly went by. It didn't take long for the trio to start getting grumpy and agitated. Random, pointless arguments were being thrown left and right, most of them were started by Sokka. Finally, once Aang had enough of the bickering siblings, he decided to just search for a spot to land for the night. It was going to be dark in several hours anyway. He looked over Appa's head, scanning the faraway ground below them, hoping to find a spot that would make a good campsite. He was getting bored, he couldn't find any safe looking place at all. It was right then when he saw it. A large boulder glistened in the sun. It was a pure, bright white, sparkling and shimmering. <em>Quartz. <em>Aang thought to himself bittersweetly. A whole wave of memories from his childhood flooded into his mind. A few tears snuck their way down his cheek. _  
><em>

"I know a spot to camp out tonight." Aang informed, looking up at the sky ahead of him, his expression blank.

"Where?" Katara asked gently, she could tell from his stiff posture that he was getting flashbacks from his childhood again. He would do this whenever he saw or heard something familiar, then his memories would be triggered and he would be frozen stiff, mourning his people.

"The Northern Air Temple."

"We are already near the Northern Air Temple?" Sokka looked over at his map. "Wow, we must of been flying fast, since that is like the last place before the North Pole."

Katara smiled, "Aang, we're going to make it in time. You're going to save a whole tribe from destruction."

Aang tipped his head slightly so he could look at the waterbender before him, "I wasn't there for my people when the Fire Nation struck. I'm going to make a difference this time. I will not let another race be wiped out because of me and my stupid mistakes." Katara didn't reply, she just put a kind, comforting hand on his shoulder.

"So... What was the Northern Air Temple like?" Sokka asked.

"Well, it was another temple designed for the males. The Eastern and Western Temples are the ones for the females." Aang started, getting lost in thought, explaining the memories as they came to him. "It was the temple that held a main part of our history. The Eastern Temple holds the history of the Sky Bison. It's amazing though. Not only is the history explained through this _huge_ library, but it is painted all over the walls. Did I ever mention how artistic airbenders are?" Aang smiled, remembering his attempts at drawing something and how his drawing of Appa turned into a bunch of unrecognizable lines.

"All their history in one temple?" Sokka asked, it didn't seem very smart to him. To have all their knowledge in just one place. Anything happens and it's gone, just like the breeze.

"Oh no, the Souther Air Temple had a copy of all the scrolls, but not the illustrations." Aang answered. "Anyway, the Northern Air Temple I visited a lot. The Southern and Northern Temples got together a lot to. We did anything from Bison races to numerous dancing parties, and all sorts of celebrations for all the different holidays of the nations."

"It sounds amazing. I wish I could of seen it a hundred years ago." Katara looked off in the distance, trying to imagine the majestic temple.

"Yeah, so do I." Aang sighed and went into deep thought, not saying another word to his friends.

They remained silent, thinking to themselves, watching the passing scenery below them. Aang was the leader of the group, whether he wanted to be or not. When he was down, so was the water tribe siblings. They hated seeing Aang in pain. But they also knew that he was strong enough to deal with his remorse. He needed some alone time, so they would do their best to give it to him... Even though they were all cramped onto the back of a animal.

"There it is!" Aang gasped, alerting his traveling companions. They looked up abruptly and their breath was taken away by the beauty of the temple. In a way, they were expecting the temple to look sort of like the Southern one. To their surprise, it was completely different. The only factor that kept the same resemblance was that it rested on the crest of a mountain.

"Aang, it is beau-" Katara stopped in mid sentence. _Are those airbenders?_ Her eyes widened. Surrounding the temple were gliders! People were flying around the temple!

"I can't believe it!" Sokka said, truly happy. "This is beyond amazing!" They turned their attention to Aang, expecting to see him rejoicing. They were astonished to see that Aang was glaring, balling his hands up into fists.

"Aang, why are you upset? Those are airbenders!" Katara walked over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"No. They are not." Aang closed his eyes tightly. For a moment there, he thought that they were airbenders. The false hope of not being alone ripped his heart apart. It was like someone just gave him a map to find the lost airbenders, but at the end, it was all just a big hoax.

"This isn't the time for denial, Aang. Besides, how would you know if they were airbenders or not?" Sokka challenged him, folding his arms and raising a eyebrow.

"The way they move. They aren't fluid or graceful. They aren't one with the wind, they are using the wind. They are gliding, not flying. Anyone can do that." Aang said, looking Sokka straight in the eye.

Before anyone could reply, one of the gliding people flew right in front of Appa's face. The bison growled and reared up, nearly throwing Katara and Sokka out of the saddle. "Hey! Watch it!" yelled the person who nearly flew into the large animal. Next thing they knew, people and their gliders were flocking around them. Appa growled and kept dodging the people, making it very hard for Katara and Sokka to hang on to the saddle.

"Aang do something! We're going to fall out!" Katara shouted, fear clouded her face. Aang stood up on Appa's head, spun his staff around his hand, using his airbending to pop out the wings, making it a glider.

"Just hold on," Aang yelled before he dove off of Appa's head.

"We don't have much of a choice," Sokka grumbled, clutching his sister's hand and the edge of the saddle.

Aang flew past the circling gliding people, drawing their attention away from the bison and his friend, toward him. They instantly took Aang's move as a want for a competition. Next thing he knew, a young boy who looked to be a year or to younger than he, glided past him, laughing the whole way. The other people were yelling, "Show'm Teo! He's got nothing on you!" Aang smirked.

"See if you can keep up with this," Aang shouted out to the boy who was apparently named Teo. The black haired boy looked over to see the stranger zip past him, leaving a swift breeze trailing behind him. Teo smiled, opened up a valve on his glider, and soon he was speeding next to Aang.

"That all you got?" Teo snorted, laughing. He wasn't mocking Aang, but meant it to be more as friendly teasing.

"Haven't even started!" Aang yelled, then pulled up and did a backwards looping, spinning around, doing complicated stunts. To his surprise, Teo was able to copy most of what he was doing to a certain degree.

"Your not that bad, but maybe with some practice, you can be as good as me!" Teo taunted, the pulled up on his glider, flying high up into the atmosphere. He release another valve on his glider and out came some kind of steam. With the steam puffing out of the back of his glider, he glided into many shapes until a crude picture of Aang was up in the sky. He laughed the whole time, and soon everyone was laughing when they noticed that Aang's expression matched the drawing in the sky.

"You've just been owned." Shouted someone, who sounded a lot like Sokka. "GO TEO!" It was then a the lovely voice of Katara shrieked, "Sokka!" Accusingly as she punched his shoulder. "Don't mock Aang!"

Aang frowned. _Two can play that game, _Aang thought as he analyzed Teo's picture. Without saying a word, Aang launched himself high up into the sky, then he flipped over on his glider, maneuvered himself until he was standing on top of it. Gasps of awe were heard below him. Aang was wind surfing. But that was just the beginning of the trick. He then twisted his torso, moving his arms around him in fluid movements. Next thing everyone knew, the clouds were starting to form and take shape, following the commands of Aang. Within minutes, the clouds took on the shape of the Air Nomad symbol. Aang smiled happily to himself, hoping that the gliders below him would recognize what he was indirectly telling them. He looked at the audience, took a quick bow, then backflipped off of his glider, free falling through the crystal blue sky. Aang laughed joyfully, enjoying the weightless sensation. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He used the air to carry his glider to his hand. He looked down, seeing that the ground of the temple was just below him. With the help of air, he slowed himself down, until he landed softly on the rocky ground. He spun his glider around his wrist and the wings popped back in, leaving just a simple staff in his hand.

Appa landed a short distance away from Aang, and one by one, the glider people landed clumsily on the ground. By the time everyone was landed, the boy Teo appeared up to Aang, in his wheel chair.

"WOW! That was freaking amazing! You're a airbender, aren't you? I can't believe this! I was gliding with a airbender!" He rambled excitedly, looking Aang up and down, taking in his yellow and dark orange robes. Definitely a outdated fashion. He looked down at his own shirt and pants. Aang blushed at the attention.

"Errm, yeah. I'm a airbender." He was still slightly frustrated with the people, but he had mainly forgiven them now.

"Wait... Does that mean you are the Avatar?" Teo's face visibly brightened, growing more and more excited.

"Yeah... I am." Aang took a step back and cringed when several girls in the crowd screamed out, "OH MY SPIRITS!" He was really wishing he could of kept his real identity a secret. Aang's eyes nervously glanced over towards Katara, she gave him a half smile of sympathy.

"It is such a honor to be in your presence... Wow. Just wow!" Teo didn't know if he should bow down before the guy, or what.

"Calm down, I'm just a normal guy... Like you and everybody else." Aang tried to explain, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"Come on! I have to give you a tour of the temple." Teo wheeled foreword, expecting Aang and his two friends to follow. Aang let out a sigh. He already knew where just about every room in this temple was.

They walked through many corridors and rooms. Aang was completely astonished by the changes. They were currently in a large room that used to be a training room. Aang looked around him in horror. All the beautiful statues of the sky bison were broken with large pipes going through them, every now and then a large vent of hot steam would blow out of the opening in the pipes. The room was dark and had a moldy smell, where it used to be the brightest area of the temple with fresh breezes blowing in the smell of moon peaches and delicious fresh baked fruit tarts. Metal stairs were nailed into the stone walls leading up to the highest loft area in the room. The highest loft was meant for Airbending masters only, it was a floor that contained all sorts of knowledge when it came to the art of airbending.

"Isn't this just wonderful?" Teo said, so proud of his father's work.

"No. It stinks." Aang grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. Teo looked over at Aang with wide eyes, completely shocked that the monk didn't like the new changes in the temple.

"I think what Aang means, is that he was here 500 years ago... All the new changes are very new to him." Katara reasoned, placing a caring hand on Aang's shoulder. Her touch calmed him down a bit.

"Well, there is this area of the temple that my dad hasn't worked on yet..." Teo began, looking over at the exit to the room they were currently in.

"Take me there." Aang asked, happy to know that at least one part of the temple was intact.

It didn't take long to get there, soon they found themselves in a large courtyard. "Our meditation area." Aang said, looking around at all of the statues of the most powerful airbenders in history. Monk Gyatso was among the statues, Aang walked over to the large statue of his mentor, several tears dripping down his cheeks. Katara looked around in awe at the majestic beauty of the courtyard. Not only were there statues, but unique art illustrations were all over the walls, telling the story of the Airbender's past. The silent moment was cut short.

"WATCH OUT!" Someone screamed. Suddenly a large boulder attached to some kind of machine crashed through the head of Monk Gyatso's statue, making the majestic statue crumble to the ground. Aang quickly moved out of the way from the falling rocks, and backflipped towards the middle of the courtyard, completely enraged.

"Don't you guys know better than to hang around a construction site?" The old inventor scolded the teens. Aang seethed. He took several steps foreword, pointing his finger at the older man.

"Do you know what you just did?" Aang yelled, his grey eyes narrowing. The inventor was taken back from the young man's reaction.

"I believe I am building a new bath house. The people around here are getting a bit stinky." The man joked, laughing a bit. Aang growled, the inventor shut up quickly.

"You just DESTROYED a spiritual area! All for what? A stupid BATH HOUSE?" Aang nearly screamed, he was loosing control of his temper.

"Excuse me young man, but do you know who you are speaking to? I am the one who found this place and built it for all of you people! Have some respect."

"No. You don't have any respect at all. You know who's statue you just destroyed? That was Monk Gyatso, one of the best airbenders in all of history!" Aang moved his arms and a sharp blast of air sent the machine that crumbled the statue and the wall over the cliffs edge. Tears were beginning to rapidly stream down his face as he lost all control of his temper.

"Oh no.." Katara whispered, dreading what was about to come. Soon as she said it, the blue tattoo on the back of Aang's head glowed a bright, brilliant white color. The inventor looked at the face of the angry Avatar with horror, surely thinking he was about to die.

"**How could you do such a thing?" **The voice of a thousand Avatars yelled, Aang's complete attention trained on the man.

"AANG! NO!" Katara yelled and ran towards him, fighting to stay upright against the strong wind currents that were picking up around him.

Sokka yelled at Teo to high tail it out of there, then he worked on getting to Teo's father.

It seemed like forever before Katara reached the distressed Avatar. She looked at him in shame, reached out, and took his hand. Aang's white eyes snapped over and looked at the girl. The instant he took in her face, all of reality came flashing back to him. She was ashamed of him. The white faded and Aang squeezed her hand tightly, his eye's wandering over to the inventor who was scared spit less.

"Thank you Katara," Aang pulled her in for a hug, then walked over to the inventor and helped the man stand up. "I'm really sorry... I just lost control.. Everything happened to fast." The older man gave a weak smile.

"You are forgiven... I should of recognized those tattoos and the clothing. I sort of made things worse." He said sadly, looking at the destroyed wall. "I'll fix it."

"No." Aang responded quickly. "This is your home now... I guess in a way, you are the new Airbenders... Just without the airbending."

"Thank you, Avatar...?" He curiously looked over at the airbender.

"Aang. Just Aang." The monk took his hand out, and shook hands with Teo's father. "If you don't mind... My friends and I sort of need a place to stay the night. I would keep flying, but we are headed to the North Pole and I don't think it would be smart to travel at night, during the coldest times." Aang rubbed the back of his next awkwardly.

"Of course. I'll send for someone to ready your rooms immediately." Aang smiled thankfully. Together, he and the inventor, along with Sokka and Katara walked and talked through the temple.

* * *

><p>A little ways away, a man in disguise smirked. The Avatar was here, the General would be very pleased to find out. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pressed on the button of a small device.<p>

"General Zhao, I have just spotted the Avatar." He whispered, looking around to make sure no one could here him. A voice came out of the device in response.

"Of course. I'll delay their departure as long as possible. See you tomorrow, General." With that said, he clicked the device off and made his way towards the area Appa was being kept. The Avatar can't leave if his Bison were to be injured.


	15. Sorry

**Hi. This is hard for me to do, but I'm not going to be writing any more chapters for My Only Wish. I've just lost my spark for writing stories about Avatar: The Last Airbender. I still think it is one of the best animated shows that has ever been created, but all good things have to come to an end. I just feel like the quality of this story is slowly getting worse and worse. I've been pressured to update by so many people and its hard for me to write something decent with all the pressure to hurry up and update. I'm sorry.**

**If any of you would like to continue the story, just let me know and I'll give give you the bit of a plot that I have for this story. **

**Again, I'm sorry. Thank you so much for reviewing though and giving me support and encouragement, it really helped me. To the some of you who kept badgering me constantly to update, it isn't your fault I'm quitting this story. I've been thinking of doing this for quite a while now. **

**Well, thats about it. Happy reading!**

**-SkinneyLove**


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